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Mission schools follow clear guidelines

January 8, 2014, 10:37 pm
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WE THANK Mr Poh Choon Kiat for his letter ("Respect faiths of others in mission schools"; Forum Online, Monday).

Our schools provide the common space where our young grow up together, build bonds and develop a shared identity as Singaporeans, irrespective of race, religion or social background.

Government-aided schools with religious affiliations have a well-established heritage that gives them a distinctive identity. Parents and students who choose to enrol into these schools generally appreciate the unique heritage and ethos.

Such schools may conduct activities such as religious classes and services. However, the Ministry of Education guidelines stipulate that such religious activities be optional because of the multi-religious nature of our society.

Schools will keep parents informed of such activities, and provide the option for their children to participate or opt out. Schools will provide alternative learning programmes for students who opt out.

The school will be in contact with Mr Poh to facilitate his daughter's opting out of religious activities.

Low Khah Gek (Madam)
Deputy Director-General of Education (Schools)
cum Director of Schools,





Respect faiths of others in mission schools

WHEN my family went to the Open House of a mission secondary school, we were told that non-Christians were welcome and that my daughter would not be forced to attend chapel ("Religious knowledge lessons important in mission schools" by Mr Benjamin Wee; last Friday).

But after admission into the school, my daughter was forced to attend fortnightly one-hour chapel sessions.

When she protested that she was not a Christian, she was taken to see the principal, who made cutting comments about her knowing full well she was joining a mission school.

My daughter's suggestion that she do her own revision or homework during chapel sessions was flatly rejected. In Secondary 3 now, she is still being forced to attend these sessions.

The Education Ministry should ensure that all government and government-aided schools do not force chapel sessions on students of other faiths, as respect and tolerance of other religions are the cornerstone of our country's values.

I attended a Christian/Catholic school and was not forced to attend chapel.

In fact, I studied my own faith in that school and took the subject at the O levels.

Prayers and the short sharing of values during assembly is fine, but not mandatory chapel sessions or Bible study classes.

I agree with Mr Wee that religious knowledge plays an important part in moulding character.

I support religious classes in schools but based on the faith of the individual student.

The alternative is to have values-based classes - values from the major religions but taught in a faith-neutral manner.

Poh Choon Kiat
ST Forum, 6 Jan 2014





Religious knowledge lessons important in mission schools

THE teaching of Bible knowledge seems to be no longer strongly promoted in Christian/Catholic government-aided schools.

It is a pity that an important opportunity to help in the overall development of the students has been missed.

Religious knowledge plays an important part in moulding character.

It helps to inculcate in the students the right moral values as they grow up searching for answers and direction in the face of challenges in life.

While I understand the need to preserve the common space in schools, I appeal for Christian/Catholic mission schools to be allowed to conduct such classes.

Parents enrol their children in these schools knowing their religious affiliation, and hence, they cannot complain that their children are exposed to Christian/Catholic values.

In fact, they are likely to have chosen these schools for the values education they provide, besides academic excellence.

Let us bring back Bible knowledge classes in mission schools.

Let us not let mission schools slowly lose their religious character.

And finally, let us not miss an important opportunity to give our children a rounded education.

Benjamin Wee
ST Forum, 3 Jan 2014





Unique role of mission schools

MS JEAN Tan Guanjie ("Protect schools' common space"; Monday) suggests that the role of schools is to protect the common space for all. While this is undeniably true, it fails to recognise the unique aspect of mission schools in particular.

Such schools are set up with the backing of religious organisations to promote their mission, be it through prayers, religious classes, and chapel services or mass.

One who enrols in a mission school should expect to be exposed to religious teachings, or else it defeats the very intention of the school.

The Ministry of Education's position with regard to the participation of students in religious activities is clear - mission schools "cannot compel any student to participate in any religious activity against the student's wish" ("No proselytising allowed in schools"; Oct 25, 2005).

Thus, Mr Poh Choon Kiat's concern over his daughter being forced to attend chapel sessions has to be treated seriously ("Respect faiths of others in mission schools"; Forum Online, Monday).

An important aspect of many religions is that of free will, and not indoctrination. Many mission schools would respect the choice of their students not to attend religious services.

Bible knowledge classes can play a fundamental role in influencing an individual's thoughts and perceptions of life.

Mr Benjamin Wee ("Religious knowledge lessons important in mission schools"; last Friday) could possibly be arguing that the lack of such classes would fail to give students a "rounded education" within the context of mission schools.

Thus, it was unfair of Ms Tan to say he was "dismissive of the basic principles of moral decency and human solidarity", as he had been arguing within the context of a mission school education.

Mission schools recognise their calibrated roles in our secular society. Making Bible knowledge classes available to their students may not necessarily disrupt the schools' common space, but better facilitate the students' understanding of the particular religion.

Desmond Chew
ST Forum, 8 Jan 2014





Protect schools' common space

IN HIS letter, Mr Benjamin Wee suggested that parents enrolled their children in mission schools "knowing their religious affiliation, and hence, they cannot complain that their children are exposed to Christian/Catholic values" ("Religious knowledge lessons important in mission schools"; last Friday).

My parents' reason for enrolling me in a Catholic secondary school was a practical one - it was closer to our home.

As with many of my Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu and non-religious classmates, the common space was important in encouraging a sense of unity, cohesiveness and independent thought.

Bible knowledge classes can be made available for students of Christian/Catholic faiths in mission schools.

But mandating these classes for all students as long as they are in a mission school does not appear to be sending the right message about religious tolerance.

This is especially so for mission schools situated in the heartland, where parents of all religious inclinations - or like mine, with none at all - may select these schools for pragmatic reasons, such as distance.

Lastly, saying that the absence of Bible knowledge classes is to "miss an important opportunity to give our children a rounded education" appears to be completely dismissive of the basic principles of moral decency and human solidarity that are not unique to the Christian/Catholic faiths.

It is a dangerous assumption if not carefully considered, given the secular nature of Singapore society.

Jean Tan Guanjie (Ms)
ST Forum, 6 Jan 2014





Offer Religion 101 to students

BOTH Mr Benjamin Wee ("Religious knowledge lessons important in mission schools"; last Friday) and Mr Francis Cheng ("Religion not the only way to mould character"; Forum Online, Monday) acknowledge that religious knowledge - as distinct from the practice of religions - can help to develop the character of students.

If students attend school to get a rounded education, shouldn't they be afforded opportunities to learn about different religions - whether it is their own or not?

Apart from benefiting from the moral teachings of the various religions, they will learn to appreciate all religions.

We should embrace the unique environment that schools can offer in teaching Religion 101, covering all the major religions in Singapore.

There will not be any shortage of teachers as religious bodies would gladly offer volunteers.

True respect in a multicultural and multi-religious society like ours can best be achieved if we are truly open to one another's thinking and appreciate the good moral teachings that all religions strive towards.

The net result would be our younger generation getting an unbiased view of all the best moral teachings, which would form the crux of their moral compass in their lives.

Geoffrey Kung
ST Forum, 8 Jan 2014





Religion not the only way to mould character

WHILE religious knowledge, to a limited extent, helps to develop character, it is not the only solution ("Religious knowledge lessons important in mission schools" by Mr Benjamin Wee; last Friday).

More important is how parents bond with their children and impart their own traditional family values of discipline, obedience, respect and righteousness.

Children's personal traits and the home environment in which they are brought up are also important.

We need to accord common space in schools, giving priority to the teaching of the core subjects and the fostering of a shared identity among Singaporeans of various communities.

Francis Cheng
ST Forum, 6 Jan 2014


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Hospitals facing severe bed crunch take unusual steps

January 8, 2014, 11:09 pm
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Patients being housed in tent and corridors, or sent to other hospitals
By Salma Khalik, The Straits Times, 8 Jan 2014

A SEVERE bed crunch at Singapore's public hospitals has forced several of them into taking some extraordinary measures.

Changi General Hospital (CGH), which has 800 beds, started housing patients waiting for beds in a large air-conditioned tent this week.

The 1,200-bed Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), meanwhile, has been forced to set up 49 beds along the corridors of its wards to cope with the demand.

Together with Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), they have also resorted to sending patients to Alexandra Hospital, one of the few public hospitals here with spare beds.

Having taken in more than 900 patients from other hospitals between last September and December, it continues to admit around 11 such patients each day.

Dr Lee Chien Earn, CGH's chief executive officer, told The Straits Times: "Our bed occupancy rate has crossed 100 per cent for certain periods over the past month and some patients have waited more than 24 hours for an inpatient bed."

This is despite CGH already renting a ward from Parkway East Hospital and the next-door St Andrew's Community Hospital (SACH).

Mr Liak Teng Lit, head of Alexandra Health which runs KTPH, said: "Every day, we have to make decisions regarding our 500 patients. Those who are not so sick are discharged to make way for the 50 to 60 patients waiting for a bed."

He described the current bed crunch as "abnormal", since public hospitals usually experience a dip in patients during this period. But numbers went up instead.

Dr Chia Shi-Lu, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, suggested that the crunch might be due to the holiday season rather than a spike in illnesses.

Mr Liak said this was possible. He explained how 20 KTPH patients at any one time refuse to be discharged. Some say their families are on holiday, and there is no one at home to take care of them.

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said last night that he was aware of the problem - hence, the push to add 1,900 more acute hospital beds and 2,600 community hospital beds by 2020.

He added: "The hospitals have also implemented various measures to alleviate the bed crunch.

"CGH has set up a nine-bed Short Stay Unit and expanded its observation ward from 12 to 20 beds at the Emergency Department and also set up an Admission Transit Area for patients who are waiting for a bed in the ward."

Madam Fatimah Beevi, 60, has experienced the crunch at both KTPH and CGH over the past fortnight.

She spent Christmas night on a trolley bed in the packed KTPH's emergency department, where she said the beds were so close she could touch the next patient by stretching out her arm. She was discharged after a day.

When her problems persisted, she went to CGH on Sunday. She was placed in the Admission Transit Area for 48 hours while waiting for a B2 bed.

"There was no shower room and I couldn't bathe for two days," said Madam Fatimah, who was discharged yesterday evening after her condition stabilised.









MOH spells out efforts to tackle bed crunch
Gan: Patients' comfort also important amid bed shortage in public hospitals
By Salma Khalik, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

HEALTH Minister Gan Kim Yong has instructed public hospitals to "do everything possible" to make patients comfortable and "ensure their safety" even as they face a severe shortage of beds.

Having seen the growing demand for hospital care some years ago, he stressed yesterday that the Government has begun building more hospitals, with 1,200 beds to be added later this year.

In the meantime, "we are actively working to tackle the current crunch in a few public hospitals" he said, by sending patients to other public hospitals with available beds, and discharging them to community hospitals when possible.

Yesterday, Mount Elizabeth Novena offered to lend 60 beds to public hospitals to help relieve the space crunch. Alternatively, it said, it could take in that many patients to be cared for by its own medical team.

Explaining how the new upmarket private hospital has spare capacity as it is not fully opened yet, chief executive Kelvin Loh said: "We're always open to private-public cooperation."

He added that fees will be reasonable as"the intention is to help meet the high demand".

The offer comes after a Straits Times report yesterday highlighting the severe shortage of beds at several public hospitals.

Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), Changi General Hospital (CGH) and Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH) experienced more than 92 per cent bed occupancy last week, on the back of very high rates in the past year.

That means there were days when occupancy crossed the 100 per cent mark, forcing CGH, for instance, to start housing some patients in a tent this week.

Dr Loh said private hospitals usually aim for occupancy rates of 70 per cent to 75 per cent, as special beds in intensive care and isolation units, for instance, must always be kept available for emergencies.

If occupancy rates cross 80 per cent, "it means that on peak days we could cross 100 per cent and our responsiveness will be affected". "That's not acceptable in a private hospital."

Two other hospitals in the Parkway Pantai group, to which Mount Elizabeth Novena belongs, already have link-ups with the public sector. CGH rents a ward from Parkway East, while also sending some of its dengue patients to Gleneagles Hospital.

"I think the Ministry of Health should be open to all options which can help alleviate the current situation," said the chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, Dr Lam Pin Min, when told about Mount Elizabeth Novena's offer. He added that he will raise the subject when Parliament next sits on Jan 20.

The hospital most likely to benefit is TTSH as it is just across the road from Mount Elizabeth Novena. It has already set up temporary beds, complete with privacy curtains, along the corridors of its wards to deal with its bed crunch.

Nearly 30 patients are using these "corridor beds".

The bed crunch is also affecting the National University Hospital (NUH), with 89 per cent occupancy last week.



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Politics keeping the euro alive

January 9, 2014, 11:43 pm
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Political rather than economic realities will determine the fate of the EU's common currency
By Jonathan Eyal, The Straits Times, 6 Jan 2014

PUNDITS - including, occasionally, this author - have an annoying habit of boasting about any of their predictions which turn out to be correct, but simply ignore those which prove to be wide off the mark.

That's precisely what happened with most of the financial experts trying to guess the fate of the euro. Some remained optimistic about the future of Europe's common currency, but the majority predicted that the euro would not survive the global financial crisis, that it would break up with an almighty bang.

Not only did this not happen, but the euro was also one of the best-performing currencies last year. And, far from shrinking in size as some predicted, the number of countries using the currency increased: Latvia, a small republic on northern Europe's Baltic shores, ditched its national bank- notes in favour of the euro at the start of this year.

How could armies of erudite academics, financial specialists and media commentators get it so spectacularly wrong? Largely because they failed to realise that the euro's biggest flaw - the fact that it is a currency driven by politics rather than economic realities - is ironically also the euro's most durable asset. The euro remains under threat but it is Europe's political map, rather than complicated indexes of sovereign debt and money supply, which will decide the currency's fate.

Those who invented the currency two decades ago were careful to speak the language of economic necessity. The euro, they claimed, would spur cross-border investments, encourage competition and make it easier to travel and work across frontiers. But the reality was that the euro was a largely political enterprise designed to prevent a reunified Germany from translating its economic might into continental domination by depriving all nation states of one of their most important instruments of statehood: their currency. As a result, the purely economic criteria for managing the euro were largely ignored.

The outcome is, by now, well known. European countries whose finances were in shambles for decades borrowed cheaply in euros until their debts became unsustainable and drove some of them to the brink of bankruptcy.

Failures of project

YET less familiar although equally important are the other failures of the euro project. It did not spur cross-European investment: European corporations switched their production lines to Asia instead. It did not prompt a boom in financial services: London, the British capital resolutely outside the euro zone, increased its domination in these fields. And because individual countries continued to apply their own separate taxes and trade regulations, the euro did not reduce retail prices either. Seldom has any project failed in so many of its stated objectives and in such a comprehensive manner.

Given all these considerations, the smartest course when the financial crisis struck would have been for nearly bankrupt countries such as Greece or Portugal to leave the euro zone. And, if they refused, the equally logical response would have been for a country like Germany - which ultimately bankrolls every European project - to kick them out.

But nothing of the kind happened. About ¤1 trillion (S$1.7 trillion) was lent by Germany and other rich EU countries to bail out their poorer cousins. And the bankrupt states implemented draconian austerity measures of the kind nations contemplate only in wartime. Greece's gross domestic product, for instance, cumulatively dropped by a quarter during the past four years, equivalent to about 15 average European economic recessions all rolled into one.

One explanation why so many Europeans tolerated this massive exercise in self-flagellation is that the act of joining the euro was similar to that of jumping into the deep end of a pool without knowing how to swim: The only options available are either to somehow paddle along, or to drown. The Greeks could have exited the euro, but only at the cost of pulverising the bank savings of their population. And the Germans could have refused to pay for the Greek bailout, but the result would have been a default among German banks holding bad Greek bonds.

Coin with identical sides

HOWEVER, the chief reason that countries were prepared to bear the pain of austerity was political: the fear that, once out of the euro zone, they would be ejected out of Europe altogether.

That fear may seem odd for the British who never wanted the currency, but not for those who actually faced the danger of losing the euro. If Greece had been evicted from the euro zone, it would have been destined to play second fiddle to Turkey, its perennial rival and far bigger neighbour. An Ireland out of the euro would have meant its return to the British economic sphere of influence which the Irish spent a century trying to escape from. Running away from an unhappy past is also the logic which prompted Latvia to join the euro zone now: It's the only way to avoid the clutches of Russia.

And the countries which bankrolled the bailouts had their own equally powerful political incentives to throw good money after bad. The disintegration of the currency would have confronted France with its biggest foreign policy defeat since World War II: It would have meant that all the French attempts to tie Germany in as many political knots as possible had failed. And for the Germans, the demise of the euro would have spelt the end of the country's post-war policies of anchoring their nation in a peaceful, prosperous Europe.

In short, precisely the political elements which prompted Europe's financial crisis also provided the glue which held the currency together. The euro resembles a coin with two identical sides, a currency doomed to prevail regardless of how one tosses it: Heads I lose, tails you win.

Given all this, does it mean that the possibility of the euro's demise is now completely discounted? The short-term omens are good. Ireland has already exited its bailout programme. Spain no longer needs cash. Speculators worldwide continue to be deterred by the warning from European Central Bank presidentMario Draghi to do "whatever it takes to preserve the euro". And German Chancellor Angela Merkel, only recently re-elected, continues to believe that "if the euro collapses, Europe collapses", so she will pay for any mishap.

Long-term prospects

STILL, the euro's long-term future remains murky, for Europe is sitting on a ticking economic and social time bomb which can explode at any moment. The EU's current approach - cutting deficits to lower debt and enacting "structural reforms" to generate growth - has not done much to either cut debt or change Europe's economic structure.

According to a recently published paper from US economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart, Europe's "debt overhang" can be resolved only by either "restructuring", a polite term which means that those who lent EU governments the cash will not get back all their money, inflation which reduces the overall value of the debt, or what the authors term "financial repression", namely forcing banks to provide cheap cash to the economy.

Encouraging inflation is out of the question since the Germans won't hear of it. Forcing banks to cough up cash is not realistic either until there is a debt relief for households that owe huge amounts to the same banks. So, the only viable solution is the further restructuring of debts, something which European governments have sworn they will not consider. Either way, the dangerous work of straightening Europe's finances has barely begun; much more pain is in the offing, at least until the end of the decade.

Identity crisis

BUT the far bigger problem is that what began as a financial and banking crisis has now turned into a crisis of European identity, for the euro, which was meant to bring Europe closer together, is tearing the continent apart. Northern Europe is doing well; Germany is bristling with optimism. But southern Europe is a disaster area, where half of those aged under 25 have never earned a salary in their lives and countries turn into ghoulish theme parks. In the Portuguese city of Porto, an architectural jewel and the capital of the region producing the port sweet red wine, the chief attraction now is the "austerity tours" which take visitors around the city's 70,000 derelict houses.

Those who still find Europe an object of desire are either Ukrainians demanding to be let in or African illegal migrants who risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea; in Europe itself, a record 60 per cent of respondents no longer trust the EU to handle any of their aspirations.

The euro won't die because Europe's economics are wrong; it will only when its politics go awry. That has not happened yet but it may happen this year, when elections for the EU Parliament could result in a rise of anti-European parties and a continent-wide backlash against austerity.

Which is one reason why many of those pundits who predicted the currency's demise are still not ready to admit they were wrong.





On Monday, The Straits Times' Europe correspondent Jonathan Eyal wrote a commentary in these pages, titled Politics Keeping The Euro Alive. Below, two analysts familiar with Europe respond to the commentary, with a rejoinder from Dr Eyal.





Keep faith with Europe's vision of economic, monetary union
By Tommy Koh And Yeo Lay Hwee, Published The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

WE WOULD like to comment on six points in Dr Jonathan Eyal's column.

First, Dr Eyal asserted that "the euro was largely a political enterprise designed to prevent a reunified Germany from translating its economic might into continental domination".

The vision of economic and monetary union was conceived during the Cold War, when there was zero prospect for German reunification. In 1969, when the six original members of the European Union (EU) met at The Hague, Netherlands, they decided to establish an economic and monetary union.

In the same year, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Mr Pierre Werner, was asked to submit a report on how to achieve the objective. The Werner Plan of 1970 contained the first road map for economic and monetary union. One of us had the pleasure of meeting Mr Werner, in Luxembourg, in the nearly 1990s.

It is certainly true, however, that the euro is part of the broader political enterprise of building a European Union of peace and prosperity. And it is this broader shared political vision that will drive the EU towards much needed reforms to realise a full economic and monetary union.

Second, Dr Eyal stated that "the purely economic criteria for managing the euro were largely ignored".

The architects of the euro were determined that the new currency should be as strong and credible as the Deutsche mark. The Maastricht Treaty prescribed very strict criteria for admission to the euro zone, namely: low inflation; sound public finances and monetary conditions; and sustainable balance of payments. All the applicants had to comply with these criteria before they were admitted to the euro zone. Greece inflated its numbers in order to qualify. If it had not done so, it would not have qualified.

The problem occurred after the euro had been successfully launched. Fiscal discipline was not observed. One of the agreements was that no budget deficit should exceed 3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). When the two largest countries in the euro zone, Germany and France, violated the agreed rule and were not punished, the battle was lost. Other countries, including those in southern Europe, followed suit.

The lack of fiscal discipline was one of the primary causes of the crisis in the euro zone. This problem has been recognised and the Fiscal Compact Treaty was signed in 2012 to address this issue.

Third, Dr Eyal asserted that the birth of the euro did not spur cross-European investment.

A comprehensive study commissioned in 2008 by the European Commission confirmed that in the decade since the launch of the euro, intra-euro zone foreign direct investment rose to one-third of GDP as compared to an initial one-fifth. Up to two-thirds of this increase can be directly attributed to the birth of the euro.

Fourth, Dr Eyal argued that the euro has not prompted a boom in financial services.

But a 2010 study by economists from the University of Houston showed that following the adoption of the euro, bilateral bank holdings and transactions increased by roughly 40 per cent from 1999 to 2008 among the euro zone countries. Another study in 2009 by economists from University of Valencia also showed that cross-border trade in securities, shares and other equity increased in the euro area from 1999 to 2007. The launch of the euro in 1999 has spurred cross-border financial integration and growth in the financial service sector.

Fifth, Dr Eyal stated that the euro did not reduce retail prices. But the creation of the euro has helped to curb inflation and brought about price stability for European consumers.

Sixth, we are astonished by Dr Eyal's statement: "Those who still find Europe an object of desire are Ukrainians demanding to be let in or African illegal migrants, who risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea".

The EU remains an attractive and safe place to live and work because of the rule of law, and its balance of individual freedom and a certain sense of solidarity. Its power of attraction remains considerable.

We would encourage Dr Eyal to have a little more faith in his own continent. Hundreds of thousands of talented young Asians study at Europe's leading universities. Thousands of young Asian scholars and scientists are doing research at centres all over Europe. Asian entrepreneurs are investing in Europe, making acquisitions and seeking mergers. Trade is booming between our two regions. Millions of Asian tourists visit Europe each year to enjoy Europe's rich cultures and modern amenities. Europe certainly faces many challenges but they are not indomitable. We are confident that Europe will overcome them.

Professor Tommy Koh is the Founding Executive Director of Asia-Europe Foundation (1997-2000) and Dr Yeo Lay Hwee is the Director of European Union Centre in Singapore.





Euro has little to do with Europe's enduring attraction
By Jonathan Eyal, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

I CHERISH the debate with Professor Tommy Koh and Dr Yeo Lay Hwee, both eminent experts in their field. They are quite right to point out that European projects to create a common currency go back decades. Indeed, these are even more ancient than commonly assumed: Napoleon dreamt of imposing a single currency - French, naturally - as far back as 1807.

But the fact that all these schemes were touted in the past is no proof that the euro project as currently conceived belongs to this old European integration aspiration, as my sparring partners in this debate would like to suggest. For, as all the European diplomatic archives made public indicate, the euro was conceived as an explicit French-led attempt to prevent a unified Germany from exercising overwhelming power.

Dr Karl Otto Pohl, president of the Bundesbank at the time when the euro treaties were signed, wrote subsequently: "The European monetary union would not have come about without German reunification, and vice versa." It is quaint to discover that Professor Koh and Dr Yeo are still battling to refute the historical narrative which is now accepted by most of those who were present at the euro's creation.

Also, Greece was not the only country to violate the conditions for euro membership. Italy also did so, through the simple expedient of moving debts from the balance sheet off the national accounts. Again, this matter is documented incontrovertibly in the recently declassified documents of the German government. From these it has emerged that Chancellor Helmut Kohl instructed his officials to ignore evidence that Italy did not meet the euro entry criteria, precisely because the single currency was a political objective.

The authors take issue with my assertion that the introduction of the euro has not prompted a boom in cross-European financial services.

When Britain decided to stay out of the euro, the general assumption was that the City of London would be "dead" as a financial centre. In fact, the bulk of the euro financial services ended up in London. The expansion in financial services was bigger outside the euro zone than inside it.

It is true that the volume of financial transactions throughout Europe increased. But so did the volume of transactions elsewhere in the world during that period, and especially in Asia, where no common currency emerged.

There is, sadly, little evidence to support the authors' assertion that the elimination of currency risks has "spurred cross-border financial integration" in Europe. Instead, it is precisely the reverse, as some southern European states tottering on the brink of bankruptcy are now discovering.

Finally, the authors reject my claim that the euro did nothing to reduce retail prices. They wrote that "the creation of the euro has helped to curb inflation and brought about price stability for European consumers".

But inflation is only one ingredient in price formation. Retail legislation and tax regimes, both of which remain national responsibilities, are just as important. That's why a litre of milk - a commodity influenced by the European Union's (EU) common agricultural policy - still fetches a different price in Italy than in, say, Finland. Retail price movements are not synchronised.

The main thrust of my article, therefore, still stands: that the euro is more of a political project in search of a sound economic justification. It does not serve as an economic accounting unit with political ramifications, as other currencies around the world do.

Of course, the continent is still a pleasant place to live in, attracting students, other human talent and investment from around the world, as Professor Koh and Dr Yeo rightly point out. Nevertheless, it is also a fact that the biggest increase in foreign student intake in Europe has been recorded in Britain, and that over two- thirds of China's inward investment into Europe is directed at Britain, the one country which has resolutely remained outside the euro. In short, the euro as such has little to do with Europe's enduring attraction.

As someone who has worked all his life on European issues, speaks five European languages and holds three different EU passports, I am delighted to accept the challenge thrown at me by two distinguished Asian academics that I should have "a little more faith" in "my" continent. I don't take it as admonishment, but as a friendly encouragement. But I hope they would concur with me that this faith should be grounded in Europe's cold economic realities, rather than just the continent's noble aspirations. For the gap between the two is the chief reason Europe still languishes in its current predicament.


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Exxon opens multibillion-dollar plant expansion in Jurong

January 10, 2014, 12:03 am
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By Alvin Foo, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

ENERGY giant ExxonMobil has marked its 120th anniversary in Singapore by opening a multibillion-dollar expansion of its vast chemical plant on Jurong Island.

At the event yesterday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the expansion is Singapore's single biggest manufacturing investment here and the oil giant's largest here.

He added the Government will work to ensure Singapore remains the region's leading chemicals and energy centre. The Republic will upgrade facilities and infrastructure on Jurong Island, improve workforce skills and adopt strategies to tackle climate change.

"Energy and chemicals contribute a third of our manufacturing output, with many positive spill-over effects... Singaporeans have built successful careers in this industry, here and overseas."



The plant is ExxonMobil's largest integrated petrochemical complex globally, accounting for a quarter of its global chemical capacity.

Its Singapore presence began 120 years ago with Vacuum Oil Company in Robinson Quay, selling kerosene and lubricants.

It has grown into a multibillion-dollar manufacturing and marketing operation here. It also runs 63 Esso petrol kiosks and supplies cylinder home cooking gas.

The world's largest oil company has invested more than US$10 billion (S$12.7 billion) here, including the plant expansion which experts estimate cost US$5 billion.

President Tony Tan Keng Yam was guest of honour at a gala dinner at Shangri-La Hotel last night to mark the anniversary.

The plant was commissioned in 2001 with ground-breaking for the expansion in 2007. Mr Matthew Aguiar, ExxonMobil Asia- Pacific chairman and managing director, said the plant expansion was made possible by the Government's support to divert a highway to create the site.

Occupying 72ha, the expansion more than doubles ExxonMobil's petrochemical production capacity here. Its ethylene capacity has soared from 900,000 tonnes a year to about 1.9 million tonnes.

Its chemical plant workforce here has been boosted by 50 per cent, noted PM Lee, bringing total staff at its integrated refining and chemical complex to 2,000. All in, the company employs more than 3,300 staff here.

He said the petrochemical industry faces challenges like rising competition from the United States, China and Europe, growing global concern over emissions and domestic constraints. But he added: "We are taking a bigger step to make Jurong Island more competitive and sustainable."

This includes using waste heat for water desalination to save energy and introducing alternative feedstock sources.

Singapore is also enlarging its talent pool and ensuring a skilled workforce. Mr Lee said the Government stands fully behind the energy and petrochemical firms here and will continue to help them succeed.





Singapore aims to keep lead in chemicals, energy sectors: PM
Several initiatives underway to ensure city-state retains status as major global hub for sectors
TODAY, 9 Jan 2014

The Government will continue to support the energy and chemicals industry here, ensuring Singapore retains its status as a major global hub for the sectors.

Several initiatives are underway to achieve that goal, including the enhancement of the infrastructure on Jurong Island, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday at the official opening of ExxonMobil’s expanded chemical plant.

Dubbing the programme of initiatives Jurong Island Version 2.0, Mr Lee said a key development is the introduction of alternative feedstock sources such as LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) to increase competitiveness and reduce the costs for the plants here. Another strategy is to use waste heat for water desalination to save energy, he said.

As a feedstock — or raw material — for chemical manufacturing, LPG is gaining popularity as an industry alternative and Singapore needs to make sure it can deliver what companies such as ExxonMobil require.

To ensure Singapore continues to attract new investments, a new LPG terminal will be built on Jurong Island, the Economic Development Board’s Director For Energy and Chemicals Eugene Leong told TODAY.

“The new terminal will allow LPG to be stored and distributed to plants on Jurong Island … We’re in the final stages of discussion and expect to make an announcement in the first quarter this year,” he said.

Other developments on the island include Tuas Power’s Tembusu Multi-Utilities Complex to provide cost-effective utility services for industries and the launch of Jurong Island Terminal last year to reduce dependence on trucking, Mr Leong added.

Besides hardware, Singapore is also keen on upgrading its capabilities through workforce training and research and development.

“A skilled workforce is an important part of this. We’re growing our pipeline of science and engineering graduates ... promoting continuous education and training ... and creating knowledge through research and development,” he said.

“At the same time, we want to assure all the energy and petrochemicals companies in Singapore that the Government stands fully behind them,” Mr Lee added. “Companies like ExxonMobil depend on us to maintain a predictable environment for their investments to succeed.

Home to many petrochemical companies such as BASF, Mitsui Chemicals, Shell and Sumitomo Chemicals, Singapore’s openness, transparency and free trade were key factors in ExxonMobil’s decision to expand its chemical plant here, Chief Executive Rex Tillerson said at the opening ceremony yesterday..

ExxonMobil’s expanded plant is Singapore’s largest manufacturing investment to date. Its chemical plant expansion takes its total investment in Singapore to more than S$10 billion

The multi-billion-dollar investment — which transforms the chemical plant into ExxonMobil’s largest integrated refining and petrochemical complex globally — will allow the American energy giant to double its finished product capacity in Singapore.

Completed in December 2012, the five-year project further enables ExxonMobil to tap Asia’s booming economy and demand for energy and petrochemical products, Mr Tillerson said.

“By the year 2040, the overall economy of Asia is likely to triple in size,” he said. “We expect global chemical demand to grow at a faster pace than gross domestic product as people seek higher standards of living … Two-thirds of that growth in chemical demand will be here in the Asia-Pacific region and the Singapore chemical plant is uniquely positioned to serve these growth markets.”


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Social Service Offices: Help in a jiffy for the needy

January 10, 2014, 12:24 am
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Social Service Offices, launched six months ago, aim to improve the way help is offered to the needy. The Straits Times spent a day at the Kreta Ayer office to find out how it is benefiting HDB towns.
By Janice Tai, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

DIM street lighting made it a long and sometimes fearful walk home for elderly residents of the Jalan Kukoh estate.

For younger ones it made the area unwelcoming, and those who did visit would do so only to smoke or loiter inconspicuously.

Last October, the residents' committee raised the matter with community partners such as the Housing Board and Tanjong Pagar Town Council, and brighter lights were installed within a month.

It was one of many changes brought about within the estate after the Kreta Ayer Social Service Office (SSO) at Sago Lane was opened last July in an effort to bring help closer to those who need it.

The office, which oversees the Bukit Merah and Outram area, is one of 10 set up by the Ministry of Social and Family Development last year.

Offices in Bukit Merah, Choa Chu Kang and Boon Lay opened last month and others will be set up in Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Queenstown and Sengkang by June.

The plan is to create a network of 20 such offices - one for each of the bigger HDB towns - in the next two years. They will administer the area's financial and social assistance programmes and act as coordinators and planners of social services.

MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC Lily Neo said needy residents also benefited when she referred around 100 cases to the Kreta Ayer SSO after talking to them at her Meet-the-People sessions.

"Their applications get processed and they get interviewed within two weeks - unlike in the past when it would have taken at least one month," she said.

Since it opened, the office has handled 2,700 cases seeking financial and other assistance.

About 80 per cent of the applications received last year came from walk-ins or self-referrals. The rest were referred by community partners such as voluntary welfare organisations.

Residents with several needs are linked up with other help agencies such as hospitals, HDB branch offices and senior activity centres.

Every week, officers from the SSO meet ground agencies such as the Tanjong Pagar Family Service Centre (FSC) and Central Singapore Community Development Council to identify needs and social trends particular to the neighbourhood.

This information is then shared with other members of a work group consisting of local agencies such as the Tanjong Pagar Town Council and Bukit Merah East Neighbourhood Police Centre and national agencies like the Workforce Development Agency to brainstorm solutions.

Such closer ties are helping things get done quicker for residents. For instance, the agencies got together to organise the estate's first social service roadshow at a void deck last October to raise awareness of the different services available. More than 500 residents, mostly from rental flats, visited booths run by 12 agencies.

In their regular discussions, community agencies also brought up the issue of a lack of youth services in areas like Chinatown and Tiong Bahru, which are commonly associated with the elderly.

SSO staff surveyed the estate and found that about 20 to 30 per cent of families living in rental flats in Jalan Kukoh and Lengkok Bahru have young children. As a result, they are now working on projects for young families, such as having a social enterprise provide low-income mothers with milk powder, and arranging for a monthly mobile library service.

The SSO is also working with the town council and other partners to create a new street soccer court and football mentorship programme to channel youngsters' energy.

"We have been trying to get some of these projects going for years," said Mr Udhia Kumar, executive director of Tanjong Pagar FSC. "But they are finally gaining traction because the SSO is able to get everyone together to sit down and discuss how to tackle them."


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'What does being compassionate mean?'

January 10, 2014, 6:02 am
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By Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

FORMER top civil servant Lim Siong Guan yesterday called for a deeper consideration of what being compassionate meant, after "compassionate meritocracy" became the latest buzz term following last month's People's Action Party convention.

The ruling party had adopted a set of resolutions then, including upholding an open and compassionate meritocracy that gives equal opportunities to all.

But Mr Lim argued: "Anyone leading an organisation has an obligation to think about the long-term well-being of their people, not just what's today... then on that basis you decide what really is the most caring thing you can (do) for an individual."

For instance, if a person is "just satisfactory" at 35 years old, is it compassionate to keep him going for 30 more years in the organisation, he told reporters at his book launch.

"Is it compassionate to have him reach 45 years old, 50 years old, and suddenly you say, you're really not making it?"

He was asked if the principle of meritocracy may have been lost in translation between the first generation of Singapore's leaders and the present one.





S'pore must stick to its core values, says Heng
Success must be shared, children nurtured to full potential: Minister
By Andrea Ong, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

WHILE the pursuit of excellence in Singapore will change over time, the country's leaders will not waver on two core beliefs, said Education Minister Heng Swee Keat yesterday.

"What must not change is our belief that success must be shared, both in the making and the partaking, by all in our society," he said. "Nor do I see us changing our deep belief that the road to future success lies in developing and growing our young to their fullest potential."

Speaking at a book launch by former civil service chief Lim Siong Guan, Mr Heng cited the Singapore example to illustrate how a leader must identify and exemplify "that which is timeless" even as he helps his people navigate a rapidly transforming world.

Without a firm hold on the values that defined the first generation and continue to guide subsequent generations, he said, "there is only change without purpose, movement without direction".

The passing on of values from one generation to the next is a key theme of Mr Lim's book.

Titled The Leader, The Teacher And You: Leadership Through The Third Generation, it captures his thoughts on leadership distilled from a distinguished 37-year career in the civil service.

Speaking to reporters at the launch, Mr Lim, 66, said it is crucial for the third generation to be exposed to what the first generation went through, so they can choose the principles and values that are most relevant to the challenges they face. Otherwise, if the third generation retains 60 per cent of the principles and values of the second generation, which retains 60 per cent from the first, that means the spirit of the pioneer generation gets watered down to 36 per cent, he said.

His book is an attempt to fill some of the gaps by sharing not just what was done but the "spirit of it all", said Mr Lim, now group president of the Singapore Government's investment firm, GIC.

He declined, however, to give his assessment of the current public service under the leadership of Singapore's third Prime Minister.

But Mr Lim, who has been permanent secretary in ministries including finance, education and defence, said it is essential for the Government to convince people that every policy decision is "reasoned and reasonable".

While the former is rational, what people feel is "reasonable" is an emotional response. "You have to be able to demonstrate, communicate, convince people," he said.

Another reason for the book, which he co-wrote with his daughter, Joanne, who is in her 30s and managing partner of a public relations consultancy, was to document some of the "whys" in some public service practices that may have got "lost in the system", he said, citing the PS21 (Public Service for the 21st Century) movement he championed to instil service excellence and adaptability.

Yesterday, Mr Heng, a former top civil servant, paid tribute to his former colleague's brand of leadership. He joked that officers can be heard saying "this is very LSG" of certain values and approaches that Mr Lim advocated.

In line with the importance of leaders being teachers, Mr Lim has set up The Leading Foundation under the Community Foundation of Singapore.

Starting this year, it will sponsor four awards for teachers who are leaders in the early childhood and special education sectors.





Nail problems without hammering people
Former civil service chief Lim Siong Guan offers answers to life's hardest questions in his book
By Cheong Suk Wai, The Straits Times, 4 Jan 2014

The Leader, The Teacher And You: Leadership Through A Third Generation
By Lim Siong Guan and Joanne H. Lim

IN 1980, high-flying civil servant Lim Siong Guan met a Singaporean manager who had studied and worked so well in Japan that even the Japanese mistook him for a countryman.

Mr Lim, who was at that time principal private secretary to then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, asked the man what the difference between Japanese and Singaporean children was.

The latter replied that if a Japanese father wanted to hang a picture and asked his son for a hammer, his son would bring him a hammer. But then the father would ask him, "So where's the nail?" and the child would say, "I'm sorry, of course I should have brought you a nail too."

But, the manager continued, if a Singaporean father asked his son for the tool and then demanded why the latter had not given him a nail too, the Singaporean son would have likely said: "If you wanted a nail, you should have told me to bring one."

In a recent interview, Mr Lim recalled: "He said the Japanese child has been taught from a young age to think about the purpose of anything; that is, see the bigger picture.

"Therefore you must think not only of what or how to do something, but why. And he said maybe not so many Singaporean children are brought up with that frame of mind of asking why, because if you don't understand why something is (the way it is), you wouldn't know how to improve."

Time has, of course, marched on since Mr Lim's encounter with that manager, but it is among the anecdotes Mr Lim includes in his debut book, titled The Leader, The Teacher And You.

The golden thread running through it is how to find, and live, a life of purpose because that really is the way to be happy.

His punchy, smarts-packed book, to be launched next Wednesday, has been written with the help of his daughter Joanne, who is a Princeton University alumna in her 30s and managing director of public relations consultancy The Right Perspective.

His daughter, who declined to be interviewed on the book because "the ideas and concepts are my father's, and I am merely a facilitator", helped with the concept and design, putting in subtle yet significant details to hold the reader's attention.

So every page of their narrative is flanked by a page of key learning points in bold, as well as the occasional quote from such thinkers as Machiavelli, Mr Dee Hock, founder and former CEO of America's Visa credit card association (now known as just Visa), and former deputy prime minister Goh Keng Swee, who Mr Lim considers one of his two "master teachers" in Singapore, the other being former prime minister Lee.

The only segment that sags somewhat is Chapter Five - in which Mr Lim recounts the mission and vision of PS21, or the Singapore Civil Service's bid to transform itself from being sometimes preoccupied and plodding to being more agile and responsive to others - which reflects not on the service but the subject matter being written about.

Mr Lim's approach is refreshing because, contrary to the popular view of the average worker as a sometime shirker, he believes that almost everyone takes pride in everything he or she does, almost always wants to give his or her best to others and does not want to look stupid.

For those who buck that belief, Mr Lim highlights the cautionary tale of a soon-to-retire carpenter asked by his boss to build one last house. Miffed at such a latecoming job, Mr Lim notes, the carpenter delivers a shabby result - only to be told by his boss that the house was a retirement present for him.

The Lims have divided their book into three parts. The first, covering six chapters, is about Mr Lim's own life experiences. He does not dwell overly much on these, but still engages and inspires the reader deeply, not least because he is the son of a taxi driver and teacher who went from working in a sewage treatment plant to becoming one of Singapore's most trusted men.

The second part of his book has four chapters, which all focus on what leadership should be. He suggests that the best leader is one so unobtrusive yet effective that his followers wind up thinking that they achieved success on their own steam.

Mr Lim makes it clear at the outset that he means for this book to be read by all, be they stay-at- home mothers, emergency room nurses or secondary school students. He more than makes good on that promise, taking the tone of a benevolent uncle who has his reader's best interests in mind.

For example, he asks: When is the only time you should be angry at yourself? Answer: When you are not the best that you can be, he suggests.

What to him is failure then? Not learning from the past, not adapting to the present and not anticipating the future, he muses.

How could you best avoid crises? "Change in good times so that you change in good time," he says. Got a bad boss? Learn what not to do from him, and make sure you do not behave to others as your boss behaves towards you, he reasons.

Don't know how to write an appealing press release? Say what you mean from the heart, say the authors, and proceed to show you how.

Keen to pursue your passion? Then beware, he argues, because you may learn nothing new when you focus on what you already know and like.

Each of his points is very hard to practise, and so this book is not for wimps. As he advises in the book, one should take the escalator instead of the stairs, but then walk up the escalator because that would save the most time.

For good measure, he has included 12 challenges to you to make the most of your talents and circumstances. For instance, would you stop what you are doing to console others? Or turn the other cheek to detractors? Or give others a second chance? He would, and has, as many among his former colleagues will tell you. Above all, Mr Lim would ask them: "How can I help you do your job better?"

Which neatly underscores his philosophy of nailing problems without hammering those who have to deal with them.





FACT FILE: A Yoda and a Duracell bunny

FORMER Singapore Civil Service chief Lim Siong Guan believes that teaching is a very special calling.

As Mr Lim, 66, told The Straits Times in a recent interview: "There is something very special about the teacher ... who seeks to do his or her best to draw the most out of the potential of the child."

A few teachers are very special people in his life too, namely his wife Jennifer, his mother Mary and his sister Violet, to whom he has dedicated his book, The Leader, The Teacher And You.

His father was a taxi driver, and those in the know often cite the younger Lim as a model of meritocracy here.

Among other accolades, this old boy of Anglo-Chinese School was a President's Scholar, which took him to the University of Adelaide to study mechanical engineering in 1965.

Upon graduating with first class honours in 1969, he joined the Civil Service here and in his 37 years with it, was former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew's first principal private secretary from 1978 to 1981; the permanent secretary in the ministries of defence, education and finance; and the head of the Civil Service between 1999 and 2006.

Over the years, his colleagues have come to call him an all-knowing, all-seeing "Yoda" and a "Duracell bunny who just keeps going and going after all around him have gone flat", as his former Ministry of Finance colleague Tan Kim Siew recalled in a tribute book to Mr Lim, titled Our Teacher and published by the Ministry of Finance in 2006.

Singapore awarded him the Order Of Nila Utama (First Class) in 2006, when he took early retirement at the age of 59.

But he hardly paused for breath because by October that year, he was made chairman of the Economic Development Board.

Since September 2007, he has helped steer the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, first as its group managing director and now as its group president.

But it is his imparting of life's deepest lessons to his former colleagues that they remember most about him fondly.

Those with him in the Ministry of Finance even published a book in tribute to him in the mid-2000s.

As one of them, Mr Pang Kin Keong, who worked with Mr Lim between 1994 and 1998, recalled: "With Mr Lim, it was never just another meeting. There was always a lesson to be learnt, in reasoning, principles, or simply about life in general."





Instructive excerpts from The Leader, The Teacher And You


Naughty or nice?

TOMMY simply cannot sit still in kindergarten... He disturbs other children in their work. Instead of taking a nap, he runs around the room. The teacher cannot control him, and thinks he is a real troublemaker.

On Teachers' Day ... Tommy had a present for her. It was a little box, wrapped with pretty coloured paper. She opened the box slowly and carefully. Inside was a caterpillar. The teacher thought it was a naughty trick. She became very angry and scolded Tommy. She threw the box into the wastepaper basket.

After school, the teacher found a little envelope. It must have dropped from one of the presents. Inside was a letter for her, from Tommy. The letter said, "Dear Teacher, here is a baby butterfly for you. I hope it will become a pretty butterfly."

The teacher felt very bad... Why? It was because she thought Tommy was naughty, and everything he did must be naughty.

Often, many of us are actually like the teacher.

For example, if someone has done something wrong one day, we think he will never be able to do anything right. No matter what he does later on, we don't care to look at it because we think it cannot be good.

Another example: If we see someone unable to walk normally because he had suffered from polio when he was young, we also think his brain may not be normal, so we do not include him in discussions, and we do not give him tough jobs. And then we wonder why his work is not very good.



Blind on a beautiful day

A BLIND boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign that said: "I am blind, please help."

There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by.

He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat.

He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote several words.

He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words.

Soon, the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon, the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognised his footsteps and asked: "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?"

The man said: "I wrote only the truth. I said what you said but in a different way."

What he had written was: "Today is a beautiful day and I cannot see it."

THE first sign simply said the boy was blind.

The second sign told people they were so lucky that they were not blind. Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

There are at least two lessons we can learn from this simple story.
- The first is: Be thankful for what you have. Someone else has less. Help where you can.
- The second is: Be creative. Be innovative. Think differently.
There is always a better way!

As enunciated in Apple's 1997 Think Different commercial: "The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do."



Doing out of the box

WHEN my first granddaughter was just over a year old, I saw her trying to take a small tube of toothpaste out of its box. Her little fingers did not have the strength to grip the tube to pull it out. She was very frustrated and shook the box around.

Suddenly, when the box was upside down, the toothpaste tube fell out. Now that she had gotten it out, she decided she wanted to put it back in. So she put the box upright, and put the tube in.

Then what did she do?

She turned the box upside down and made the toothpaste tube fall out again. She then put it back into the box.

What was happening?

She was having fun learning a new way to take something out of a box!...

But I was learning something important also...

WE can learn by copying what others do. It is a good way of learning. But it also means we will always be behind them.

If we want to be ahead, we must also learn by trying new ways, by experimenting, by "shaking things about" and watching what happens.

The point is to Learn by Doing. Don't just talk. Don't just think. Do!

Confucius, the great Chinese teacher and thinker who lived from 551 BC to 479 BC, taught something important about learning by doing. He said:

"I hear and I forget.

I see and I remember.

I do and I understand."

Do you find this to be true in your life? It is only when you do something that you really understand what you actually have to do, how to do it, and why you are doing it.


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Can Singapore cultivate resilience in face of change?

January 10, 2014, 6:10 am
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By Leong Chan-Hoong, Published TODAY, 9 Jan 2014

What makes Singapore unique? That was the question posed to a group of young professionals some years ago at a community dialogue I attended.

With little hesitation, many cited a series of attributes that Singapore Inc was renowned for, such as public safety and strong social bonds. “We don’t have political deadlocks, unlike other democracies,” said one participant. “Singapore works impeccably,” proclaimed the other. “We complain a lot but we still support the government,” quipped the third.

Political observers will agree that the little red dot is an improbable nation that has risen above insurmountable challenges of its era; it is an epitome of a successful nation-state that has got all its policies right.

The emphasis on law and order, a harmonious multicultural community, an efficient and seamless public infrastructure, and a competent government that holds the faith and trust of the citizenry — these are all distinct legacies of the Singapore story.

It would be fair to say that until a few years ago, from the perspective of the man in the street, Singapore had ceased to be a work in progress. It had risen above the regional fray, with a compulsion to benchmark itself against an immaculate set of deliverables. It was also somewhat surreal.

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

Fast forward to 2013.

This was, in many ways, a poignant year in the modern history of the city-state. Singaporeans, already questioning the supposed infallibility of public administration — with the extraordinary escape of Jemaah Islamiyah detainee Mas Selamat in 2008, the Orchard Road floods of 2010 and the crippling breakdown of the MRT system in 2011 — were faced with a series of events that further cracked the facade of the unique Singapore story.

The churning undercurrent of grievances over the Population White Paper, the toxic haze from Indonesia, the graft trials of public figures and senior civil servants, the series of hacking incidents and the Little India riot were events that captured the national consciousness through the year. Singaporeans could no longer boast about being above the fray.

Today, a sense of doubt, pessimism, insecurity and, to some extent, despair, is palpable. The angst over the failure of our well-oiled state machinery has led some to describe the successive events over recent years as a failure of governance.

Political commentators have described the political climate after the watershed 2011 General Election and last year’s closely-fought Punggol East by-election as the new normal. Singaporeans will now have to face this new normal in governance and public administration, as well as resist measuring the country against a matrix of close-to-perfect key performance indicators.

As we progress, the state of governance can only get more challenging and our social ties more complicated and strained. Long-term planning, a linchpin of Singapore’s governance, will become nearly impossible, given the rate of change in the evolving socio-economic and geopolitical landscape.

HAVING WHAT IT TAKES

For nearly 50 years, Singaporeans from all walks of life have demonstrated remarkable resilience in the face of unwanted and unexpected change.

From the Bukit Ho Swee fire in 1961 to the 1966 Indonesian Konfrontasi and through the oil crisis of the 1970s, the recession in 1985, the Asian financial crisis in 1998 and the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist plot in 2001, Singaporeans have arguably had their fair share of historical calamities.

These are not distant memories but real experiences, at least for the previous generation. Singaporeans have moved on at every juncture. Our forefathers had no illusions about the invincibility of the nation-state, because the existence of the country, let alone its success, was never assumed. They were not insecure. They did what they had to do to survive.

This thinking must now inform our approach to shifting goalposts in an evolving global landscape. When desired outcomes become unrealistic and non-sustainable, there must be soul-searching — much like the recent efforts by education policymakers to focus on character development, sporting abilities and community service when redefining performance indicators within the education system.

The population conundrum, the annual return of the haze, our relations with foreigners and our transport woes will continue to be multi-dimensional problems that require perseverance, tact and political compromise.

And, as the city-state matures, our obligations and responsibilities as global citizens will grow. Our efforts to define our national identity cannot stop at asking ourselves what it means to be a Singaporean today. It will have to involve cultivating national resilience — the ability to recover from setbacks and continue to do what needs to be done.


Dr Leong Chan-Hoong is Deputy Head of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) Social Lab, an independent centre for social indicators research. He is, concurrently, a Senior Research Fellow at IPS.
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Progressive Wage Model To Help Low-Wage Workers

January 10, 2014, 7:00 am
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Proposed tiered-wage model to up cleaners' pay
Amendment to law will lead to tiered pay system; security sector next in line
By Toh Yong Chuan and Joanna Seow, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014


In a bold move, the government is introducing an amendment to the law in Parliament this month which, when passed and implemented, will in effect set a tiered wage system for different jobs in the cleaning sector.

A full-time indoor cleaner will earn at least $1,000 a month.

Those who are trained to handle cleaning machines will earn at least $1,400, and a supervisor, $1,600 - all salary levels which are negotiated with employers and unions.



This move to boost cleaners' pay is a "targeted approach, not a national minimum wage", emphasised Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

"We are not setting wages by political decree."

Instead, the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, which regulates the cleaning sector, will amend the law this month to introduce a new compulsory licensing scheme for cleaning companies.

Cleaning firms must have a licence to operate, and a key requirement of the licence is that they use a "progressive wage model" to pay their workers. The model sets a wage ladder, where workers in low-wage jobs can earn higher pay through training.

The licensing condition itself will not spell out the salaries on the ladder, explained Mr Tharman.

Instead, a committee of government officials, unionists and employers will negotiate the salaries.

Cleaning companies that do not follow the wage guidelines will be punished for not complying with the licensing requirements, including having their licences revoked, the Deputy Prime Minister warned.

Customers who hire cleaning firms without licences will also be punished.


A similar model will be introduced in the security sector, added Mr Tharman, without spelling out a time frame.

The latest move is the strongest attempt yet by the Government to raise persistently low salaries in the cleaning and security sectors. Industry players there have suppressed wages in order to submit price-competitive bids for new business.

Checks with town councils showed that the move will not affect them. "Town councils have already adopted the progressive wage model," said Mr Lim Biow Chuan, chairman of the Marine Parade Town Council.

But at least one buyer is worried about higher cleaning costs.

"I'm glad that they're trying to raise the wages of low-income workers, but we are concerned about how this will eventually affect contract prices," said a manager from a building management company, who did not want to be named.





NOT WAGE-SETTING

This is a targeted approach, not a national minimum wage. We are using licensing rules to ensure progressive wages in these industries because of the prevalence of cheap-sourcing in the two industries. Cheap-sourcing practices discourage wages, skills and quality from moving up in the way they do in most other industries.

- Mr Tharman, referring to the cleaning and security industries





Govt 'not setting minimum wage'
Raising cleaners' pay is a targeted move: Tharman
By Toh Yong Chuan, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

THE move by the Government to raise the salaries of cleaners and security guards is targeted and not the setting of a national minimum wage, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

In any case, having a national minimum wage is not the best way to help low-wage workers, he reiterated, citing the experience of both the United States and Europe.

In drawing the distinction between the two systems, Mr Tharman said that the Government's move is a targeted one.

"We are using licensing rules to ensure progressive wages in these industries because of the prevalence of cheap sourcing in the two industries," he said.

"Cheap-sourcing practices discourage wages, skills and quality from moving up in the way they do in most other industries. This is compounded by the preponderance of older workers with low education in the two industries - workers whose job choices in the labour market are unfortunately limited."

The second difference between this system and a national minimum wage is that the wages are not set by "political decree", but negotiated between the Government, unionists and employers.

"This tripartite approach, and especially the involvement of both unions and employers in setting appropriate wages and a wage-skills ladder, is important," he said. "It reduces the risk that workers, especially our older and more vulnerable ones, will lose their jobs as wages go up."

"Our approach is therefore different from one of legislating a national minimum wage," he added.

Mr Tharman pointed to problems in Europe and the US as lessons for Singapore, saying "there is more than meets the eye in how minimum wages impact the poor". The high minimum wages in most European countries have been accompanied by high unemployment and the workers with the lowest skills are most badly hit.

Said Mr Tharman: "Politicians are keen to take the credit for raising minimum wages, without accepting responsibility when those with low skills and experience are unable to find an employer at the minimum wage."

Even in the US where the minimum wage is much lower than in Europe, reputable economists have pointed out that the poor are the ones who are not being helped, he added.

"This is because the majority of the poor in the US are unemployed, not at work. Higher minimum wages will reduce their opportunities to find an employer, not help them," he said.

"On the other hand, more than a third of those who actually earn the minimum wage are teenagers, many of whom come from better-off families."

The latest move by the Government comes after it tried to influence the wages of cleaners and security guards by awarding contracts to firms based on quality and performance standards, and not just pricing.

But these government contracts cover only 11 per cent of local cleaners and security guards.

"Clearly therefore, (the) Government cannot transform industry practices on its own," said Mr Tharman.

Mr Milton Ng, president of the Environmental Management Association of Singapore, said compulsory licensing will raise standards in the cleaning sector. "It levels the playing field and firms cannot undercut one another through low bidding. Workers suffer when there is undercutting because their salaries are also cut," he said.

Mr Robert Wiener, president of the Association of Certified Security Agencies which represents more than 110 security firms, hopes that the security sector gets 24 to 36 months to adjust before the progressive wage model is legislated.






Incentive to curb 'cheap sourcing'
By Joanna Seow, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

BIGGER grants are now available for organisations that do not just focus on price when awarding contracts to companies providing cleaning, security or landscape services.

A scheme introduced yesterday will give them as much as 10 per cent or $150,000 of the contract's value when they take into consideration the pay and training received by workers of the companies tendering for the project.

This Progressive Wage Incentive (PWI) scheme, set up with $5 million from the Government, is to encourage companies to adopt the Progressive Wage Model, which gives guidelines on pay increments for workers as they climb the skills ladder.

The PWI's goal is to help firms "move away from a vicious circle of a downward spiral of wages, to a virtuous circle that focuses on skills and productivity", said chief executive Gilbert Tan of the Employment and Employability Institute, the training arm of the National Trades Union Congress.

The institute will administer the PWI scheme, which replaces an existing fund giving grants of up to 5 per cent of the contract value to organisations that pick firms with good employment practices.

About 1,500 local low-wage workers in the three sectors are set to benefit from the scheme, which is open to other industries.

This latest move, to coax companies to move away from awarding contracts based on just the lowest price, is part of the NTUC's relentless effort to end "cheap sourcing" and improve the pay of low-wage workers.

"Working as tripartite partners with the service buyers, we can make cheap sourcing a bad practice of the past," labour chief Lim Swee Say said yesterday at a seminar on best-sourcing practices.

Employers like Changi Airport Group told companies at the seminar that evaluating tenders based on other factors like pay and training benefits service buyers too.

Said Mr Yeo Kia Thye, Changi Airport Group's senior vice-president of airport operations: "We have roughly the same number of cleaners now as three to four years ago, but our traffic has grown by more than 30 per cent.

"What this means is that our cleaning force productivity has increased by more than 30 per cent."

Mr Milton Ong, president of the Environmental Management Association, which represents cleaning companies, said that the NTUC grant can be of immediate benefit to cleaners "because some firms can raise their pay in the interim without waiting for the current contract to end".






Guards' wage model 'different'
Their pay structure may differ from cleaners' as overtime work is common
By Toh Yong Chuan, The Straits Times, 10 Jan 2014

THE wage model for the security sector may be different from that for the cleaning sector when it is eventually legislated by law.

This is because the model will have to take into account overtime pay, said security firms and industry players.

Unlike cleaners, who work 44-hour weeks, guards typically work 72 hours each week, or 12-hour shifts each day over six days.

Although the Manpower Ministry's latest wage data showed the guards' basic monthly salary of $800 is lower than the cleaners' $850, their gross monthly salary is much higher at $1,700 because of overtime pay.

"It is slightly more complicated (working out a wage model) because of the nature of the industry, where overtime is more prevalent," said labour MP Zainal Sapari, who is spearheading the implementation of the progressive wage model to bring up low-wage workers' pay.

Mr Zainal said it is important to look at a guard's overall monthly pay package because that matters to most, adding there could be two options for guards - they can work the same 72-hour week for higher monthly pay, or reduce the hours of overtime work without having to suffer a pay cut.

His comments came one day after the Government announced on Wednesday it would amend the law to make it compulsory for cleaning firms to pay cleaners a basic monthly wage of at least $1,000 from September.

A committee of government officials, unionists and employers will negotiate a tiered-salary scale for cleaners, and firms will be required by law to pay those salaries. Cleaning firms that do not comply can have their licences to operate revoked.

The security sector is next in line, although no implementation date was set.

The Government added that the targeted move to raise the salaries of cleaners and guards does not amount to setting a national minimum wage.

Mr Zainal, who is in the committee drawing up the salaries for guards, declined to be drawn into saying what the salary structure might be.

The Straits Times understands the committee has not started discussing the structure yet.

Security firms were divided on whether the focus should be on raising pay or reducing overtime work. Some said it was not up to them.

"We can only wait to see what is announced. It is not like we have a choice," said a director of a security firm who declined to be named.

But Mr Paul Lim, chief executive of security firm Soverus, said the "ridiculous" levels of overtime work should be cut first.

"It is the biggest obstacle stopping people from joining the sector, worsening the manpower shortage," he said.


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Credit firms in Heartland: Safeguards to protect borrowers

January 11, 2014, 2:04 am
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WE THANK Mrs Marietta Koh for her feedback ("Easy access to credit bodes ill for heartlanders"; Tuesday).

Licensed moneylenders serve the purpose of making credit available to those with genuine financial needs but who do not meet the criteria to take out a bank loan.

We agree with the general concern about not making credit too accessible. However, excessive controls may drive those in financial hardship to seek loans from unlicensed moneylenders or other illegal sources.

To protect borrowers, there are several safeguards, including interest rate caps for those with an annual income below $30,000, borrowing caps for unsecured loans and a minimum age of 18 years old for borrowers.

The current licensing framework also requires moneylenders to meet several criteria before their licences are granted. These include ensuring that they are of good character to manage the business, and the placement of a security deposit to ensure the proper conduct of the business.

Moneylenders found to have committed offences may have their licences suspended, not renewed or revoked by the Registry of Moneylenders.

The Ministry of Law is currently considering additional measures to strengthen the moneylenders' regulatory regime and to complement the Monetary Authority of Singapore's 12-month income limit on unsecured borrowings from financial institutions. There has also been a moratorium on new licences since 2012.

Praveen Randhawa (Ms)
Deputy Director
Corporate Communications Division
Ministry of Law
ST Forum, 10 Jan 2014






Easy access to credit bodes ill for heartlanders

I READ yesterday's article ("More moneylenders moving into heartland") with unease.

While giving the target customer base easy access to credit may be a strategic business move for licensed moneylenders, it bodes ill for residents in HDB estates who will bear the social costs.

As moneylenders begin to proliferate and cluster together, more people may be tempted to borrow money from them. The main draw is that their lending criteria are less stringent and less onerous than those of banks.

Customers are also more inclined to try their luck at securing loans, especially when their previous applications have been rejected and there is now a pool of moneylenders in close proximity for them to pick from.

Some may even come to believe that with the growing prominence of such credit firms within their neighbourhoods, it is perfectly acceptable to borrow money in this manner.

Of this group, some may be impressionable young people who may not be financially savvy and opt for satisfying their immediate wants the easy way instead of saving up for them.

Over time, they will find themselves mired in debt.

I urge the authorities to step in and regulate the industry before the more vulnerable fall victim to debt.

One way is perhaps to make it mandatory for credit firms to make their penalties for defaults on payment more transparent and conspicuous to potential customers, such as by advertising these on their shop fronts.

Hopefully, reminding people of the highly punitive late-payment charges levied by such companies would go some way towards deterring borrowing.

Marietta Koh (Mrs)
ST Forum, 7 Jan 2014





More moneylenders moving into heartland
Just in Toa Payoh town centre, 16 credit firms have set up shop
By Melody Zaccheus And Janice Tai, The Straits Times, 6 Jan 2014

LICENSED moneylenders are increasingly targeting heartland areas such as Toa Payoh, Ang Mo Kio and Tampines, raising concerns among some about the availability of easy credit.

In Toa Payoh, for instance, 16 credit companies have set up shop in the town centre, replacing apparel shops and hair salons, among others. There was just two such licensed moneylenders in the entire estate in 2009.

Five have set up in Tampines and nine in Ang Mo Kio since 2009, spreading out from areas like Chinatown and Beach Road which used to be their main focus.

"Heartland areas have high human traffic," said Mr John Lim, 36, the manager of moneylending company Symbolic at Block 183, Toa Payoh Central. "Eighty per cent of our borrowers are living in HDB flats and are not based in places like Tanjong Pagar."

Operators said while they face stiff competition, clustering together makes it more convenient for customers. "The location is central and people come from all over Singapore as they know we are all based here," said a loan officer, who wanted to be known only as Louis T., from Gold Allianze at Block 185, Toa Payoh Central.

Sound technician Mohd Aris travelled from his Jurong home to Toa Payoh last Thursday to borrow $300. "There are many moneylenders in the area, so if the criteria of one is strict I can go to another," said the 25-year-old, who was rejected by 10 moneylenders before he got his cash.

Such clusters also work in the favour of customers who borrow from one moneylender to pay off debts at another.

The Straits Times understands that most of the credit companies in Toa Payoh town centre rent their premises from tenants who sublet their shop space, and not directly from the Housing Board.

There are now 206 licensed moneylenders in Singapore, compared with 173 five years ago.

The Registry of Moneylenders, which regulates the industry here, said there is no restriction on the number of licensees in a given area, "as the licensing criteria are currently not based on geographical quotas".

But the registry is in the midst of conducting a review of the moneylenders regulatory regime, and has suspended the processing of new licences in the interim. The review aims to enhance the professionalism of the moneylending industry and strengthen its governance. Suggestions the Ministry of Law has received include introducing paid-up capital, similar to requirements for banks and finance companies.

Mr Lim Cheng Boon of Credit Counselling Singapore said the growing number of moneylenders in the heartland is worrying. Especially at risk are low-income earners with annual incomes of less than $30,000. He believes they are more likely to approach such establishments as they do not meet the income criteria of banks.

Subordinate Courts statistics show that civil cases relating to moneylending more than doubled in 2012, with 260 cases compared with 96 in 2011. There were 102 such civil cases in the first half of last year.

Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC MP Hri Kumar Nair said restricting the number of moneylenders in any given area will not address such "perceived social harm". "Desperate people in need of money will go to wherever the moneylenders are," he added.

Private tutor Jane Soh, 36, who used to live in Toa Payoh and still frequents it, said: "It is only healthy to ensure a better distribution of such businesses to safeguard the interest of residents."





Easy credit - with limits
By Janice Tai And Melody Zaccheus, The Straits Times, 6 Jan 2014

CREDIT firms in Toa Payoh operate behind frosted glass fronts covered with large banners to give customers privacy. The banners pledge easy credit in a jiffy and last Thursday, they were still serving customers past their 8pm closing time.

Although moneylenders can legally offer unsecured loans of four times a borrower's monthly income - if they earn $30,000 to $120,000 a year - most offered conservative sums.

When reporters cited a monthly pay of $3,000, five loan officers offered to lend half that sum, saying low- income earners are a bigger credit risk. But loans could be approved right away.

Documents such as an identity card and SingPass log-in details are needed to retrieve income statements online.

For borrowers earning under $30,000, the rate lenders can charge is legally capped at an effective interest rate of 13 per cent for secured loans and 20 per cent for unsecured loans.

But borrowers need to be careful of other charges, cautioned Mr Lim Cheng Boon of Credit Counselling Singapore. "Debt can escalate in a short period due to late payment charges."

For example, if a borrower opts for weekly repayment instalments and defaults on payment for one month, he will face four late payment charges.






'Robust' regime here against dirty money
But study says controls in areas like pawnbroking need stepping up
By Yasmine Yahya, The Straits Times, 11 Jan 2014

A STUDY has found that Singapore has a robust regime to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. But it warns that controls over such risks involving pawnbrokers, money changers and remittance agents need beefing up.

The two-year national risk assessment led by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) also highlighted new areas such as virtual currencies for further study.

Overall, Singapore was found to have "strong laws, tough enforcement and efficient prosecution", the study noted. Banks and casinos were deemed to be at high risk from such criminal activity, but the study also found them to have the most developed controls.

However, the study found scope for improvement in banking - for example, in the area of trade finance, where monitoring and policies could be stepped up.

DBS Bank's head of consumer banking and wealth management, Ms Tan Su Shan, noted that as a financial centre, Singapore has to abide by international standards and even lead the way in setting some of its own. "This puts the city in good stead to continue to grow as a robust, sustainable financial hub," she said.

Controls at remittance agents and money changers were less robust, the study found. "Large amounts of physical cash, high numbers of walk-in, one-off and overseas customers, as well as voluminous transactions contribute to higher inherent money laundering and terrorist financing risks."

Pawnbrokers are another risk area, as transactions are cash-based and there are no explicit controls against money laundering or terrorist financing, the study found.

The Insolvency and Public Trustee's Office is considering introducing such measures into the Pawnbrokers Act this year.

Mr Kwok Wui San, the financial services regulations leader of PwC Singapore, said it is important to hit the right balance when regulating small firms like money changers and pawnbrokers. "Regulation is good as it raises standards and is a first-level check that only good people of integrity are in the business," he said.

Corporate service providers, which include law and accounting firms, were also seen as a potential problem area. While they generally do not handle large amounts of cash, the firms they help to incorporate may be abused by criminals to set up opaque structures for illicit purposes.

The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority has proposed legislation to regulate the sector this year.

The increased use of online payments has made Internet-based transaction and fund deposit companies such as PayPal and Alipay a potentially high-risk area.

Global standards are still being developed for such firms, but MAS said it will continue to monitor new and emerging firms in this space and spot risks.

The Government has also identified areas for further study, including virtual currencies, dealers of precious stones and metals and the Singapore Freeport.

KPMG Singapore partner Lem Chin Kok noted that global regulators have not yet developed a consistent approach to virtual currencies like the bitcoin. "With (this) industry expected to continue to grow, guidance from supra-national bodies like the Financial Action Taskforce to help shape the regulatory landscape in a more consistent way is necessary."


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Sheng Siong chief's mum kidnapped and freed; two arrested

January 11, 2014, 2:47 am
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2 charged under Kidnapping Act
By Walter Sim And Lim Yan Liang, The Straits Tmes, 11 Jan 2014

BARELY 48 hours after an audacious kidnapping of the elderly mother of Sheng Siong's chief executive, two men - believed to be lovers - were produced in court yesterday and charged under the Kidnapping Act.

Lee Sze Yong, 41, is accused of abducting Madam Ng Lye Poh, 79, between 10.30am and 1.02pm on Wednesday along Hougang Avenue 2, with the intent to hold her for ransom.

His accomplice, Heng Chen Boon, 50, is said to have helped him confine her in a vehicle near Sembawang Park between 8.30pm and midnight that day.



Both men stood stone-faced in the dock as the charges were read in English to Lee, an odd-job worker, and in Mandarin to Heng, a credit card promoter.

The court granted the prosecution's request for the two Singaporeans to be remanded pending further investigations.

Their case will be heard again next Friday. If convicted in Singapore's first kidnap-for-ransom case in over a decade, they face either death or life imprisonment. Lee, who is below 50, could also get up to 24 strokes.

Madam Ng was freed unhurt early Thursday morning, shortly after her son, Mr Lim Hock Chee, dropped off a $2 million ransom at Sembawang Park.

Mr Lim, founder of the Sheng Siong supermarket chain, has a net worth of US$515 million (S$655 million).

His mother was kidnapped on Wednesday after her daily visit to a market, which was abuzz yesterday as hawkers recalled the gregarious woman known to them as "Sheng Siong Ma".

Lee apparently lured her into a car after claiming that her son had been hurt badly in a fall. She was later bundled into a second car and blindfolded, and her hands and feet were bound.

The suspects were nabbed at about 1am on Thursday - an hour or so after Mr Lim dropped off the $2 million ransom. The full sum has been recovered.

The alleged kidnappers are believed to have used a Malaysian- registered phone number for their crime, but were foiled by their mobile phone's global positioning system (GPS).

Official records show that the two bachelors live together in an Hougang flat, about 2km away from the Lim family's residence. Heng was arrested at home, Lee in Ang Mo Kio. Neither is said to have known the Lims personally.

Lee's mother, who gave her name as Madam Seow, said the two men are "in a relationship", and have been living together for more than 10 years.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong commended the police yesterday for a "great job" in making the swift arrests.

In a Facebook post, he said: "Glad Madam Ng is safe and sound. Also glad that her son... alerted the police as soon as it happened, so that the police could rescue Madam Ng and solve the case."





Sheng Siong chief's mum kidnapped and freed; two arrested
By Walter Sim, The Straits Tmes, 10 Jan 2014

TWO men were arrested yesterday for kidnapping the elderly mother of Sheng Siong chief executive Lim Hock Chee, in a brazen attempt to force the multi-millionaire into paying a $20 million ransom.

Madam Ng Lai Poh's kidnap ordeal, however, did not last very long. She was released unhurt shortly after her son, who founded the supermarket chain in 1985, paid a $2 million ransom just before midnight on Wednesday.



The 79-year-old was taken at about 11am earlier that day as she was walking along Hougang Avenue 2 (not Hougang Avenue 8 as previously reported based on what the police said) after a trip to a nearby market.

Madam Ng was alone at the time when one of the suspects allegedly lured her into a car on the pretext of taking her to see Mr Lim, who he claimed had been injured in a bad fall.

She was later bundled into a second car at an unknown place, where she was blindfolded and bound, and moved to another location.

The suspects, aged 41 and 50, were nabbed by the police at about 1am, an hour or so after Mr Lim had dropped off the ransom under a tree in Sembawang Park.

The two Singaporeans - the older one, a credit card promoter and the younger man, an odd-job worker - did not put up a struggle when apprehended.

If convicted under the Kidnapping Act, they face the death penalty or life in jail. The younger suspect may also be caned.



A police spokesman said during a press conference at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) yesterday afternoon that there had only been three other cases of kidnapping for ransom over the last 13 years.

The cases, reported between 2000 and 2003, were solved and the perpetrators jailed for life, with the main culprits each also punished with between three and 24 strokes of the cane.

Mr Lim told reporters yesterday that he received a call on Wednesday at about 1pm from a man demanding $20 million in exchange for releasing his mother.

Despite warnings from the kidnappers not to alert the police, he called "999" at 2.13pm to report it anyway.

He continued to negotiate with the kidnappers over 30 calls throughout the day with the covert assistance of the CID officers and brought the ransom figure down to $2 million.

That night, he drove alone to Sembawang Park with the bag of cash and placed it under a tree as instructed.

But the kidnappers never had a chance to touch the cash, which was recovered by the police in full at the drop-off point after they were arrested.



Madam Ng was resting when The Straits Times visited her home yesterday evening. Her granddaughter said she was "fine, stable, calm and resting well".

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean yesterday commended the police for the swift arrest.


"The family of the victim had done the right thing by lodging a police report immediately," he added.





Your son had a fall, stranger told Sheng Siong boss' mum
79-year-old was tied up and blindfolded in a kidnap ordeal that began near a Hougang market
By Joyce Lim, The Straits Tmes, 10 Jan 2014

MADAM Ng Lai Poh was walking home alone from a market when a man approached her to say her son was suffering after a bad fall.

He offered to take her to see him and the worried 79-year-old agreed to get in his car.

It was about 11am on Wednesday. The man took her from Hougang Avenue 2 (not Hougang Avenue 8 as previously reported based on what the police said) to a location unknown to her where she was tied up and blindfolded, beginning a kidnap ordeal lasting more than 12 hours.

At about 1pm the kidnappers called Madam Ng's son, Mr Lim Hock Chee, on his mobile phone to ask for a ransom of $20 million.

"The caller told me that my mother is in his hands and let me hear my mother's voice," said the 52-year-old chief executive officer of Sheng Siong supermarkets.

"At first I thought it was a scam because the person had called my mobile phone. I called my mother but the line was engaged. I called my maid at home and told her to call my mother. She also couldn't get through."

It was only then that Mr Lim realised that his mother had actually been kidnapped.

"The kidnappers threatened to hurt my mother if they didn't get the money," Mr Lim told reporters at a press conference yesterday at one of his supermarkets at Block 720 Clementi West Street 2.

"I was shocked. When such things happen, of course we would be frightened. But we tried to remain calm and solve it."

Mr Lim, who has eight siblings, decided to discuss the matter with his elder brother Lim Hock Eng, 53. Both agreed to call the police.

Police said they received a call from Mr Lim Hock Chee at 2.13pm, sparking immediate investigations by the Criminal Investigation and Police Intelligence departments.

Mr Lim said he received about 30 calls from the kidnappers throughout the day - though there was an hour or two when he heard nothing.

"Police helped to calm me down and taught me how to negotiate with the kidnappers," said Mr Lim in Mandarin.

He managed to negotiate the ransom sum to $2 million - but did not say how, citing ongoing investigations.

Before midnight yesterday, Mr Lim drove to Sembawang Park alone where he dropped off the ransom money, packed in a bag, under a tree.

Twenty minutes later, he received a call from the kidnappers informing him that his mother had been left in the Seletar West Camp area.

Police later found Madam Ng at a bus stop in Seletar Aerospace Drive and took her to Khoo Teck Puat Hospital for a check-up.

Within an hour or so after Madam Ng was released, police had tracked down two suspects. They were arrested separately in Hougang and Ang Mo Kio.

Police also recovered the $2 million ransom money from under a tree in the vicinity of carpark 2 of Sembawang Park.

Last night, outside Mr Lim's home, his elder brother Mr Lim Hock Eng told The Straits Times that Madam Ng was still "in a bit of shock". She had been discharged from hospital at 5am yesterday with doctors saying she was fine.

The family declined to let reporters speak to Madam Ng, saying she was resting at home.

Neighbours described Madam Ng as friendly and humble.

"She looks quite modern but she does not wear much jewellery or flaunt her wealth," said one, who declined to be named. "In fact if my other neighbour did not tell me, I wouldn't have known her son owns Sheng Siong supermarket chain."

The Straits Times understands that supervisors of at least eight Sheng Siong outlets received an internal memo after 6pm yesterday, advising them to say they knew nothing if approached by reporters.

News of the kidnapping spread among the supermarket chain's outlets. Staff said they were shocked, even though they knew little of Mr Lim's family. They did not know of any Sheng Siong employees who fitted the profile of the suspects.

Police identified one of the suspects as a 41-year-old odd-job labourer sub-contracted to a supermarket and the other as 50-year-old credit card promoter.





Three previous cases of kidnapping for ransom over 13 years
By Lim Yan Liang, The Straits Tmes, 10 Jan 2014

THERE have been three previous cases of kidnapping for a ransom in Singapore over the last 13 years. All three were successfully solved by police.
- On Christmas Day 2003, a seven-year-old girl was taken from her home off Yio Chu Kang Road by a man at about 4.30pm.
After being put into a waiting vehicle, her captors - two middle-aged men - drove off towards Punggol.

Fortunately, a catering assistant who was at the victim’s residence preparing for a Christmas party heard the commotion and took down the getaway vehicle’s licence number. She called her husband, who spotted the vehicle and gave chase. The kidnappers dumped the little girl off Tampines Street 72, half an hour after she was kidnapped.

Transport manager Tan Ping Koon, 35, and cleaning company owner Chua Ser Lian, 42, were both sentenced to life imprisonment and three strokes of the cane each for the offence.
- On Aug 7, 2003, jobless Selvaraju Satippan held MediaCorp TV journalist Nina Elizabeth Varghese to ransom in her Braddell Road home, tying her hands with electrical wire.
In the 3-1/2 hours that he detained her and her maid, Selvaraju also set fire to the clothes in her wardrobe, hurt her with a kitchen knife, and attempted to kill her.

The 22-year-old news reporter managed to escape through a bathroom window.

Selvaraju, 45, was sentenced to life imprisonment and given 24 strokes of the cane.
- On August 10, 2001, a day before his wedding, 33-year-old businessman Tay Teng Joo was ambushed outside his Bukit Timah bungalow, blindfolded and bundled into his black Mercedes-Benz 320 CLK.
For six hours, site manager Chng Teo Heng, 45, businesswoman Agnes Ng Lei Eng, 52, and freelance painter Ng Soon Teck, 44, held him hostage and demanded a ransom of $1.22 million, which his family paid that same day.

Within 24 hours, the police nabbed the kidnappers and recovered all but $903 of the ransom sum.

While Ng asked for the death sentence, the trio were each sentenced to life imprisonment, with Chng receiving an additional six strokes of the cane for using a knife in the abduction.


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Long House: Makan place from dawn till dark

January 11, 2014, 3:03 am
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Affordable food and convenient location draw regular patrons to Long House
By Kash Cheong, The Straits Times, 10 Jan 2014

A MEETING place for cyclists at dawn. A stopover after school. A place for dinner on the way home from work or after jogging at MacRitchie Reservoir.

Long House food centre in Upper Thomson Road has held a special place in the hearts of patrons for the past 13 years.

But this week a deal was closed to sell the site - formerly a Shell station and garage, a fast-food outlet and a Kopitiam - to a developer for more than $45 million.

"It’s such a pity," said Yio Chu Kang resident and sales manager Jerry Tan, 32, as he sat down for his weekly meal at Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodle, which draws more than 300 customers a day. "It’s one of the few places along Upper Thomson Road with a variety of good hawker food at affordable prices."

The popular food stretch still houses a few coffee shops, like Hwa Nam Restaurant and The Roti Prata House, but there is nothing nearby in the same league as Long House, which has about 15 stalls offering a variety of dishes from duck rice to Western food. Most of its stalls open till about 10pm.

"The closest I can think of is Shunfu market," said Thomson resident and jogger Eve Teo, 27. But that is located far from the main road and opens mostly for breakfast and lunch. "I will miss the convenience of Long House. It’s open until late and the chicken rice is worth the calories."

Long House was originally a row of shops in Jalan Besar stadium and was popular with footballers and fans. The food centre moved to Upper Thomson about 13 years ago after the stadium was renovated.

Retired lawyer Ng Choon Gim, 62, oversees Long House on behalf of his family’s business, Sin Hin Lee Investment, which owns the Upper Thomson site.

It used to house a Shell petrol station with a car workshop in the 1960s and 70s. Mr Ng’s father, the late Mr Ng Aun Khim, ran it as a local dealer for more than 20 years. But when Shell downsized operations in 1979, the late Mr Ng bought the property for $678,000 the following year.

The family has now sold the 1,575.6 sq m site to developer TEE Land for $45.2 million.

"I thought the property market is close to its peak and it’s time to let go," said Mr Ng. "It’s a good profit but all thanks to the acumen of my late father."

TEE plans to redevelop the place - near Marymount MRT and the upcoming Upper Thomson stations - into residential and commercial units.

After the Ng family bought the land in 1980, they leased it to American fast-food chain A&W for eight years and food-court operator Kopitiam for two.

It was vacant for some time before Long House moved in around 2000, bringing some stalls from the original Jalan Besar eatery, including the barbecue stingray, mee pok and char kway teow stalls.

Today, only four hawkers from the Jalan Besar Long House remain: Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodle, Bugis Street Chuen Chuen Chicken Rice, Boon Pisang Goreng and the popular Soon Kee (Boneless) Lor Duck Rice.

"The duck is tender, the rice is loose and fragrant and the chilli is flavoursome" said public servant Jimmy Tan, 30, who first visited the stall about a decade ago.

He remembers Long House fondly for 5am cycling meet-ups with his kakis when the floors were "still wet as they had just been cleaned".

Mr Ng is searching for a new home for Long House’s 15 stalls. He estimates the move will take place in four to six months after he receives money from the sale.

He will leave it up to individual stall owners to decide whether the stalls move en masse.

Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodle boss Tan Ah Hui, 68, is already considering relocating to Block 280, Bishan Street 24.

"We knew of the sale only this week," said Mr Ong Tan Heng, 60, owner of Soon Kee (Boneless) Lor Duck Rice. "We expect other coffee-shop owners to approach us in the next few days."

Madam Yong Fong, 64, owner of Bugis Street Chuen Chuen Chicken Rice, said: "Hopefully the four stalls from the original Jalan Besar site can move together. We have been friends for so many years and work well together. We want to keep our branding too."

Soon Kee’s Mr Ong added: "When we moved from Jalan Besar, our regulars came with us. Moving shouldn’t be a problem."

For Boon Pisang Goreng owner Rose Boon, Long House at Upper Thomson holds special memories. It is the place where she spent most time with her late husband, Mr Boon Fong Juan, selling fried bananas. He died three years ago and she inherited the business.

"Of course, I will miss this place," the 35-year-old said tearfully. "I spend more time here than at home. My regulars have become friends. But when we close down, I hope to rest one or two months and take my children on a well-deserved holiday."

Echoing the sentiments of many Upper Thomson residents, Mr Dan Lee, 23, said: "Wherever they go, I hope the stallholders remember to tell us. I’ll miss having one of the best food centres at my doorstep."





Long House site: Bought for $678,000, sold for $45.2m
By Cheryl Ong, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

LARGER than usual crowds thronged the popular Long House Food Centre yesterday after news emerged that the site had been sold for redevelopment.

Many visitors were sorry to see the well-loved place go, but the family which has just sold the site in Upper Thomson Road is now sitting on a handsome profit.

This was all thanks to a shrewd move by the late Ng Aun Khim to buy the site more than 30 years ago.

The Ng family sold the 1,575.6 sq m site for $45.2 million - or $888 per sq ft (psf) per plot ratio - to listed developer TEE Land on Tuesday. The property had been owned by the family's firm Sin Hin Lee Investment.

The site was bought in 1980, said Mr Ng Choon Gim, 62, who oversees the business. His father had acquired it for just $678,000.

That means its value has shot up 66-fold over 33 years.

TEE Land plans to redevelop it into a mixed-use project. It can house 30 to 38 residential units, averaging 1,000 sq ft each. About five to 10 commercial units measuring about 1,600 sq ft each can also be built, said deal broker Knight Frank. Residential units are expected to sell for about $1,500 psf, while commercial units should go for about $4,000 to $6,000 psf.

The site is about 500m from the Marymount MRT Station, and about 350m from the upcoming Upper Thomson Station.

The site was owned earlier by oil giant Shell, which had a petrol station there in 1961.

The late Mr Ng was the dealer who ran the petrol station for more than 20 years. "I still remember sleeping in there when I was in primary four, and I grew up there till I was 18 years old," said his son. He recalled that it was surrounded by "kampung houses" with tombstones scattered about.

Shell scaled down its operations in 1979, downsizing the kiosk, which still stands at 183A Upper Thomson Road today.

The property has been home to many food establishments over the years. After the Ng family bought it, fast-food chain A&W asked to lease the site in 1980. It moved out after operating there for eight years.

Then food court operator Kopitiam Group leased the premises for another two years.

Long House moved there from Jalan Besar about 12 years ago, said Mr Ng junior.

The food centre is famous for its prawn noodles, duck rice and goreng pisang. Hawkers said business has declined since parking fees were imposed a year ago.

News of the looming closure drew plenty of extra visitors. Mr Tan Ah Hui, 68, who runs Ah Hui Big Prawn Noodles at the centre, estimated that he had sold at least 100 bowls by 2.30pm, when The Straits Times visited. He has been serving the dish since 1963, and now plans to move to a coffee shop in Block 280, Bishan Street 24.

Ms Rose Le, 35, owner of Boon Pisang Goreng, said she has not looked for a new place but is not too worried about whether business will be hurt by a move. "Customers have been asking me not to move too far away," she said. The stall sells about 500 pieces of goreng pisang a day.

The Ng family has other property investments in the Thomson area. Mr Ng junior said his brother owns the unit housing restaurant Liquid Kitchen at Yew Lian Park, while his cousins own three shops in the area.

"I have my father to thank for his foresight to buy the site at a historically low price," he said.


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Community clubs to screen EPL matches

January 11, 2014, 4:36 am
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By May Chen, The Straits Times, 10 Jan 2014

FOOTBALL bonds - particularly those relating to the EPL - are often formed in pubs, bars, and homes. But from this weekend, some might even be formed in Singapore's community clubs.

This, following a move by SingTel mio TV and the People's Association (PA) to screen selected English Premier League matches in 23 CCs. For starters, nine CCs will telecast tomorrow's match between Chelsea and Hull City.

Said SingTel's managing director of TV Goh Seow Eng: "Catching the game with a bunch of friends and neighbours is great fun and a fantastic way to foster community spirit in the heartland."

Added PA's chief executive director Ang Hak Seng: "It is a great way to bond the community as friends and neighbours, as well as parents and children, can gather to watch and cheer for their favourite football teams together."

While the idea of screening football matches in public is not new - some 2010 World Cup matches were also aired in CCs - mio TV is now committing to screening selected matches weekly till May 11, the season's final day.

The initiative was hailed by fans, even those who subscribe to pay-TV content at home.

Mr Sanjiv Sharma, 44, managing director of an advertising agency, said: "Sometimes watching a match in a friend's house might inconvenience family members, so this is a brilliant idea."

Fellow Arsenal supporter Ms Umarani Jayapal, a 27-year-old librarian, added: "It's more fun to watch in a group instead of alone at home, but sometimes there are limitations to watching in certain venues.

"This will be good in terms of helping to promote community bonding, for friends who support different clubs, to watch in a neutral venue."

Others, however, have their reservations. Said Mr Bruce Kam, 31, a customer service officer and Manchester United fan: "I personally prefer to enjoy a game comfortably, either at home or even if I have to fork out a bit of money to watch it at a pub with friends.

"But I think this could be popular with the senior citizens and students."

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Poly, ITE review aimed at keeping young in work

January 11, 2014, 5:05 am
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Panel holds first townhall meeting to get views
By Sandra Davie, The Straits Times, 10 Jan 2014

THE extensive review of polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) being undertaken by the Government is aimed at "future-proofing" Singapore youngsters against unemployment.

Senior Minister of State for Education and Law Indranee Rajah, who leads the review, noted that despite having sound education systems, countries such as Finland and South Korea are grappling with rising youth unemployment. "It tells us that qualifications alone are not enough - there must be a match between the educational qualifications and the skills needed for available jobs."

Ms Indranee was speaking at the first townhall meeting held by the review panel yesterday to canvass views from some 150 polytechnic and ITE students.

She said the review, called Applied Study in Polytechnics and ITE, or ASPIRE for short, is aimed at drawing up a plan to increase the number and range of employment opportunities for these students. It will also ensure there is a match between the skills and qualifications that students attain and the jobs which are in demand by industry.

Ms Indranee highlighted the case of Germany, which has managed to keep youth unemployment at bay. Key to the country's success has been a dual learning system, where students on the vocational track receive job training in companies while pursuing courses in vocational schools. She said this form of education, called applied learning, integrates work and study and focuses on developing capabilities that are needed for jobs in industry.

The applied learning pathway that the review team has in mind goes beyond the short internships that polytechnic students undertake, she told the media, at the event at the National Library.

"Currently the internship is an add-on. The applied learning pathway we will look at is where the apprenticeship or internship becomes part and parcel of the learning process," she said. For example, companies that take on students as interns must ensure that the student's work experience builds on what he is learning in school.

The review panel will look at piloting applied learning for jobs in some industries where there is a shortage of skilled workers, including manufacturing, aerospace, early childhood education, nursing, and building and construction, she added.

She admitted that changing the mindsets of students, parents and employers about paper qualifications would be a key challenge for the review team.

Ngee Ann Polytechnic student Yeap Yi Xuan, 20, who studies mass communications, agreed that most of her peers were set on the university route. "It is entrenched - that the only way to succeed is by going to university. It will be difficult to tear down this belief. After all, you can have very good skills, but employers still want to see that degree."

Altogether, 98 people from business, industry and education will be involved in the review. The group will comprise a 35-member steering committee, and four other committees looking at different aspects, such as strengthening links with industry.

In response to why such an unusually large group is involved in the review, Ms Indranee said it is an extensive review involving many different industries, educational institutions and stakeholder groups, including students and parents. "It's a complex undertaking... a lot of work, a lot of moving parts and you need to be able to drill down into the different issues," she said.

The committee is expected to complete its work in the second half of this year.





Diverse team to review poly and ITE education
Group's 98 members drawn from business, industry and education
By Amelia Teng, The Straits Times, 9 Jan 2014

WITH nearly 100 figures from business, industry and education involved, a review of Singapore's tertiary technical education system is set to be a lively affair.

Led by Senior Minister of State for Law and Education Indranee Rajah, its aim is to help keep polytechnics and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in tune with the changing economy.

When asked how it settled on a 98-strong team for the Applied Study in Polytechnics and ITE Review, or ASPIRE for short, the Ministry of Education (MOE) explained that the members "bring with them rich knowledge, experience and perspectives".

"The industry representatives were selected from different sectors so that a range of industries would be represented," added its spokesman.

The group will be divided into a 35-member steering committee, an engagement committee to reach out to parents and other stakeholders, plus three review committees which will look into different aspects. These include improving career and academic prospects of students and strengthening links with industry.

MOE announced yesterday that the steering committee will include the principals of all five local polytechnics, ITE chief executive officer Bruce Poh, Singapore Institute of Technology president Tan Thiam Soon and SIM University president Cheong Hee Kiat.

Also in the group are chief executive officer of Cathay Organisation Holdings Suhaimi Rafdi and Sakae Holdings founder and chairman Douglas Foo, who hopes to use his experience in hospitality to help bridge the gap between education and demands of industry.

"Going forward, skill sets are changing. Training and learning don't just take place in schools, but at the workplace too," he said. "That's why there are so many members in the committee. We come from different backgrounds... so that we can cover a broad range of sectors."

MOE's permanent secretary Chan Lai Fung and its director-general of education Ho Peng are also part of the steering committee.

The ASPIRE committee, which will take study trips to institutions and industries in Singapore and abroad, is expected to complete its work in the second half of this year.

Said Ms Indranee: "Each individual matters, and we must ensure that our approach to technical education can help ensure that polytechnic and ITE students will continue to be well equipped for work and life, even as the operating environment evolves.

"We also want to avoid a mismatch between industry needs and student qualifications, skills and capabilities."



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LEAPS 2.0: Revised CCA reward system

January 11, 2014, 5:29 am
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Overhaul to nurture all-round students
New framework starts with this year's Sec 1 students; bands to replace grades
By Amelia Teng, The Straits Times, 10 Jan 2014

THE Ministry of Education announced yesterday an overhaul of a system that recognises students' efforts in co-curricular programmes.

The new framework, which starts with Secondary 1 students this year, will reward those who strive to be all-rounders. Students now in Sec 2 to 5 will continue with the current system until 2017.

Students who do well in co-curricular programmes chalk up points that will help in their application to junior colleges and polytechnics.

Under the new system, students like star athletes who win medals for their schools but are not as active in community service projects may not do as well.

Conversely, students who are involved in a broad range of programmes - from co-curricular activity (CCA) to community service projects like planning a beach clean-up - may fare better.

The new framework, called LEAPS 2.0, enables students to be better recognised and encourages schools to design more "balanced" experiences, said Madam Liew Wei Li, director of student development curriculum division at the ministry.

The ministry will do away with grades like A1 and replace them with three bands - Excellent, Good and Fair.

The "Excellent" band will be the equivalent of the current A1 or A2 grades, which allow students to deduct two bonus points from their aggregate scores when they apply to a junior college or polytechnic.

Under the current grading scheme, which was introduced in 2003, students obtain an A1 grade when they chalk up 25 points or more across five areas - leadership, enrichment, achievement, participation and service, or LEAPS for short - during their secondary school years.

More weight is given to leadership and achievement, such as winning medals in competitions.

For example, a student can chalk up a maximum of 12 points for leadership, which takes into account positions he holds, such as school prefect or team captain.

Less emphasis is given to community service, which is allocated a maximum of five points.

The revised framework, however, gives equal weighting to all categories.

In line with the new approach, "levels of attainment", from 1 to 5, will replace the point system.

To get "Excellent", a student would need to obtain at least a level 4 in one area, and a level 3 in the rest.

Enrichment, which refers to involvement in programmes like life skills workshops, will no longer contribute to a student's final band.

Under the current scheme, 60 per cent of students on average do well enough to deduct the two bonus points from their academic scores. This will remain largely the same under the revised framework, said the ministry.

The new system also adopts a broader criteria for some of the categories. For instance, achievements outside of school will be counted. This could include helping at a community club. The time and effort taken to plan community service projects will also be taken into consideration.

Bowen Secondary principal Bernard Chew said he is glad the new system reinforces the importance of service. "It is not enough to do well in examinations and CCAs... but we must teach students equally to do good... and develop empathy, compassion and gratitude."

Mr Ivan Lee, 51, a trainer who has two daughters in Bowen Secondary, said the updated scheme will help students develop character. "CCAs now are about going for competitions and winning, but they miss out on other things like serving others and reaching out."





New CCA scheme is a Leap forward
LEAPS 2.0 puts equal focus on service, achievement, participation, leadership
By Amelia Teng and Priscilla Goy, The Straits Times, 11 Jan 2014

TANJONG Katong Girls' School student Karuna Faswani, 12, hopes to join the school's bowling team or the choir when she picks her co-curricular activity (CCA) this month.

But her mother Bharti Daswani, 36, was told by other parents that Red Cross was a safer bet.

"We were told uniformed groups have better leadership opportunities, and it is easier to get A for the co-curricular activity grade," said the lecturer at a private school. "But with the new evaluation scheme, she can do what she likes, and not have to focus on points."

Karuna is among this year's Secondary 1 students, the first batch to come under LEAPS 2.0, a revamped framework that recognises students who strive to be all-rounders in co-curricular programmes. Students who are now in Sec 2 to 5 will continue with the current system until 2017.

Parents The Straits Times spoke to said the new scheme, announced by the Ministry of Education on Thursday, appears to be a good move as it gives equal emphasis to the different aspects of non-academic performance, such as community service.

The current system gives more weight to areas such as leadership and achievement, which includes winning competitions and holding key positions in CCAs.

The new scheme gives students who are not top sportsmen, or high-profile school leaders, a chance to be recognised in different ways, said parents.

Its winning point is that students' contributions to society outside of school can be counted, said Mrs Bharti. "It's fairer because it redistributes the focus, and my daughter is also more open to her interests," she said.

A secondary school teacher, who did not want to be named, said: "Instead of letting their children choose what they are interested in, a handful of parents would go for CCAs that help them 'score'. The new framework may help to make the system less competitive."

Under the new scheme, equal weight will be given to all categories - leadership, achievement, participation and service.

"Levels of attainment", from 1 to 5, will replace the current points system. Broader bands - excellent, good and fair - will also replace eight letter grades.

These will be converted into bonus points students can use for entry to a junior college or polytechnic, like in the existing system.

But some parents, like Madam Sarah Chew, 41, whose Sec 1 daughter is in her school's rhythmic gymnastics team, expressed concern that their children would need to put in more hours doing community service on top of extra training hours.

"It is hard as it is now for her to balance school work and sports excellence. As long as she does not need to put in extra hours outside of school, I'm okay with it," said the senior client manager, whose daughter is part of a programme that trains students with potential to represent Singapore.

Principals said many students easily clock 36 hours of community work during their secondary school years, which could allow them to do well under the new system. They added that placing more emphasis on service will not lower standards of CCAs, like in sports or performing arts.

"Students didn't suddenly not practise hard when the Singapore Youth Festival award levels were changed to distinction, accomplishment and commendation last year," said Ang Mo Kio Secondary principal Abdul Mannan, referring to the ministry's move to streamline the awards structure to focus on participation rather than competition.

Principals noted that CCA departments will need to do more to boost their students' involvement in community service, a process that has started for most schools in the last few years.

Bowen Secondary principal Bernard Chew said: "A good model is having CCAs themselves organise community service activities related to the students' interests, like teaching soccer to low-income children."

At his school, the taekwondo club spent time last year with residents from one-room Lorong Buangkok flats, doing arts and craft with them, and teaching them basic taekwondo moves.

He said: "We've been trying to make sure that students' experiences will be meaningful, instead of just collecting donations during flag days."


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Help for nursing homes to improve service

January 11, 2014, 5:40 am
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Agency to train and 'audit' them, to raise standards
By Linette Lai, The Straits Times, 10 Jan 2014

NURSING homes will get help from the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to raise the quality of their services as spelt out for them in Parliament last March.

The AIC said it will provide voluntary assessments and give recommendations on how these could be done. It is also prepared to provide relevant training in new areas.

Ms Lynda Soong, the chief of AIC's community care development division, said it would run through the new standards with the nursing homes and "give them a report so that they can... see where their strengths are, and where they can improve".

"Going forward, we will do a mock audit, which will help them to meet the standards." This will be done before these new standards are put in place.



More than 20 homes have already signed up for the first round of baseline assessments, which she said should start by the end of the month.

The new service standards were drafted by a committee made up of nursing home operators and health-care professionals in 2012.

In July, the Health Ministry (MOH) held a feedback exercise to get input from the public as well.

The new standards specify more clearly what nursing homes will be expected to provide from next year in three aspects: clinical areas like pain management; residents' psychosocial well-being; and organisational excellence.

Unlike the previous standards, these are "outcome-based... rather than being prescriptive", said Senior Minister of State for Health and Manpower Amy Khor, who gave details of them at St Theresa's Home yesterday.

This would allow nursing home providers to be more flexible when trying to improve, and allows for creativity and innovation, Dr Khor noted.

She said: "The nursing home providers and the public... agree that it is important to set standards and improve the quality of care so that residents in nursing homes can get a good quality of life even though they have high care needs."

Refinements were also made to the proposals after public feedback. One area was in "psychosocial well-being".

The public felt that it is very important to ensure that the dignity of the residents is preserved even as they are providing nursing care, Dr Khor said.

One element of this, she added, was to look after residents'"mental well-being", such as counselling unhappy residents.

MOH plans to increase the number of nursing home beds from about 10,000 now to 15,600 by 2020, Dr Khor said.

In 2012, The Straits Times reported that a contributor to the hospital bed crunch was the lack of nursing home beds, as many patients on the waiting list stay in hospital.

While the new nursing home standards will kick in by 2015, nursing homes will be given a year to adapt.







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Managing the bed crunch in hospitals

January 11, 2014, 5:53 am
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New procedures, facilities added over the years
By Salma Khalik, The Straits Times, 10 Jan 2014

BED shortages at public hospitals are not new, though rarely have they been this bad - with some patients waiting more than two days to get one.

Each time they occur, new procedures, facilities or stop-gap measures are introduced to meet the growing demand.

Some of the more extreme measures taken in the past decade have seen rooftop gardens converted into wards and beds placed in corridors.



By the mid-2000s, hospitals had made a major change to tackle the problem by introducing same-day admission for surgery. This saved public hospitals 17,000 bed nights a year, as previously patients had to check in the night before they were due to go under the knife.

But in 2006, the flu season sparked a massive influx of patients suffering from pneumonia that filled all the beds at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and Changi General Hospital (CGH), with some complaining of a 24-hour wait to get one.

Overcrowding at TTSH resulted in the hospital periodically closing its doors to non-critical ambulance cases, which were diverted to other hospitals.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said the bed crunch was seasonal. Nevertheless, it planned to add 80 more beds to public hospitals.

There was no let-up in 2007 as Singapore's rising population pushed bed occupancy at some public hospitals beyond 90 per cent.

CGH faced an occupancy of 98 per cent on some days that year and had to take over a ward of 33 beds from St Andrew's Community Hospital next door.

MPs suggested that patients were unwilling to move to a community hospital or nursing home because of heavy government subsidy in general hospitals.

Then Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan assured Parliament that MOH would add 60 to 100 beds a year until the population stabilised. About 150 more were added in 2007.

Hospitals also introduced more day surgeries so patients could spend less time in the wards.

Still there was no let up the following year. In 2008, SGH and TTSH experienced a more than 10 per cent surge in patients at its emergency department, while occupancy rates of over 90 per cent were common across the country.

One patient was even told there were more than 100 people in queue for beds ahead of him

In 2010, TTSH gave a new meaning to the term C-class beds - installing temporary beds in its corridors. It also transferred 80 stable patients to Ren Ci Community Hospital.

SGH, with occupancy of 87 per cent, cut the number of non-emergency surgery to cope with demand. It also discharged patients earlier in the day to free up beds, as did TTSH.

Meanwhile, National University Hospital (NUH) dealt with the problem by offering patients outpatient intravenous antibiotic treatment instead of warding them.

Those with suspected heart problems were sent for immediate tests and warded only if they were confirmed.

It also leased a ward of 30 beds from the private Westpoint Hospital, sending its doctors and nurses there to care for patients.

With CGH juggling with occupancy peaking at 99 per cent, there was a sigh of relief when Khoo Teck Puat Hospital opened its doors early. It filled up almost immediately but eased the crunch on other hospitals.

Also in 2010, SGH leased two wards from Alexandra Hospital that year, manning them with its own staff.

Several hospitals looked to get to the root of the problem and started schemes to help "frequent fliers" - patients who are hospitalised several times a year - stay healthy. They made checks on their health or even sent staff to visit them at home, drastically reducing their need for hospitalisation.

In 2011, one year after the opening of the 550-bed Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), public hospitals were faced with more bed shortages. Worst hit were TTSH, CGH and KTPH.

CGH added temporary beds in its therapy areas and sent patients straight for surgery while a bed was being located.

All struggling hospitals sent stable patients without a bed to Alexandra Hospital by ambulance.

TTSH borrowed close to 300 beds from Ren Ci Community Hospital, Ang Mo Kio-Thye Hua Kwan Hospital and the Communicable Diseases Centre. It even turned its decontamination area into a holding place for patients in the emergency department - though this attracted complaints about its cement floor and stuffiness.

The crunch was blamed on the growing number of elderly Singaporeans, who are more frequently sick and need to spend longer in hospital.

By 2012, CGH was sending patients recovering from hip fractures to Peacehaven Nursing Home, where they could continue to be treated by its medical staff.

In a push for greater capacity, it leased a ward of 30 beds from the private Parkway East Hospital and also converted office and shop space - as well as an unused road - into its admission transit area. This gave it space for 25 beds for emergency patients awaiting a ward bed - on top of its observation and resuscitation areas.

KTPH, meanwhile, moved skywards, converting one of its rooftop gardens into a 32-bed ward.

As dengue fever took hold last year, CGH entered into yet another agreement with the private Gleneagles Hospital for it to take in up to a dozen patients with the mosquito-borne virus.

It looks like CGH's problems are continuing unabated after hitting the headlines again a few days ago, having set up a tent to hold up to 15 patients at its emergency department who were waiting for ward beds.

And there is a sense of deja vu as TTSH places beds in its corridors again, and some hospitals send stable patients to Alexandra Hospital.




Bed crunch: Better care network needed
By Lim Yan Liang, The Sunday Times, 12 Jan 2014

The solution to the ongoing hospital bed crunch cannot just lie in adding new beds. Instead, a network of patient care outside of a hospital is necessary, said the head of the upcoming Ng Teng Fong General Hospital yesterday.

"The centre of gravity (in patient care) cannot be in an acute hospital setting," said Mr Foo Hee Jug, who is now chief executive at Jurong Health Services.

"We must do and plan activities right now to get patients comfortable with community care."

Pointing to programmes like Tan Tock Seng Hospital's "virtual hospital" where health managers are on hand 24/7 to advise elderly patients by phone or through home visits, Mr Foo said that expanding transitional and community care by partnering doctors and primary care providers can help alleviate shortages.



Jurong Health Services is moving in this direction by working with polyclinics to set up family medicine clinics and collaborating with private general practitioners so that residents can seek care for different ailments outside of a hospital setting.

"Patients who would otherwise have stayed in an acute hospital can (then) actually go home, knowing that at the right time, we will be able to... bring our doctors and nurses in," he said.

Mr Foo was speaking at a community event at JEM in Jurong yesterday, where more than 2,000 people signed a cement slab that will be hoisted to the top of Ng Teng Fong General Hospital tomorrow, to mark the completion of the inpatient tower.

Mr Foo said that the upcoming hospital is on track to open its first phase by the end of December.

About 500 beds will become available there at the end of this year, with another 200 available in its community hospital section.

The Jurong Community Hospital, which will be adjoined to the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, is also on track to open in the third quarter of 2015, said Mr Foo.

When the hospital opens, it will add another 400 beds.

The two hospitals will serve the 900,000 residents in the western part of Singapore, and help alleviate the bed crunch faced by the National University Hospital and Singapore General Hospital.





Things to note
By Salma Khalik, The Straits Times, 10 Jan 2014
Given the current bed crunch, should I go to a hospital if I'm very sick?
If your illness can be treated by a general practitioner (GP), it might be better to see a GP. You will get treated faster.

However, if you suspect you might have a heart attack, stroke or other serious medical problem, call for an ambulance. Even if a bed is not available, doctors will attend to you immediately and begin treatment.
Can I tell the ambulance to go to Singapore General Hospital or Alexandra Hospital which have beds?
No, emergency ambulances are obliged to take you to the nearest hospital.
Should I take the hospital's offer to move me to another hospital?
Yes. Your condition would be considered stable. You will get a bed much faster and it beats waiting in a transit area.
If the hospital wants to discharge me, but I still feel sick, what should I do?
Tell the doctor or nurse your concerns. Ask them what you should do if your illness recurs. Ask for a number to call should that happen. If you are still afraid to leave, ask that you not be discharged. But bear in mind that there are many very sick people who need beds urgently.

Do not delay the discharge simply because you prefer spending another day in hospital or there is no one to pick you up.
If I have waited a long time in the Emergency Department, can I just leave before seeing a doctor? Will I be charged?
You may leave at any time but do let the staff know. You will not be charged. If you are at Changi General Hospital, they have a list of nearby general practitioners who can treat non-critical illnesses.



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Ageing in comfort and with dignity

January 12, 2014, 5:11 am
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Three seniors who work with seniors dream up their ideal retirement home: Cosy units with common lounge areas to encourage interaction, which come packaged with health care and social activities.
By Chiang Hai Ding, Rosemary Khoo And Philbert Chin, Published The Straits Times, 10 Jan 2014

FOR 16 years, "home" to Annie has been in the heartland of Henderson Housing Board estate. The Henderson Senior Citizens' Home is also home to 20 other residents who are long retired and whose meagre Central Provident Fund savings have long run out.

These men and women, mostly single, are independently mobile. Two or three residents share a converted one-room HDB flat, with an attached toilet and shower, and basic cooking facilities. They share a small lounge with a television set and laundry. They can also go to the hawker centre nearby for food or join the day centre on the first floor for activities, should they wish to do so.

These elderly residents appear to be happy with what they have. They receive basic care from a few live-in foreign workers, and are mostly free to do their own thing. Volunteer health professionals look in on them periodically, and other volunteers organise weekly meals and periodic outings.

The home Annie lives in was run for several decades by the Chinese Women's Association led by its president, Mrs Betty Chen. This organisation handed the baton to the NTUC Eldercare Cooperative in 2008.

Today, there are 300,000 seniors over 65 years in Singapore. By 2020, there will be 600,000, and by 2030, 900,000. In fact, there are already 200,000 singles over the age of 35. The majority of Singapore seniors are found in HDB estates, which house over 80 per cent of our population.

Requirements of seniors

WHAT do seniors need?

As active volunteers working with seniors, we believe they need the four basics - health, housing, dignity and meaning. We were heartened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's National Day Rally speech in August. "Whatever happens to you," he assured Singaporeans, "you can get the essential social services that you need, especially health care." And to provide "peace of mind", especially to "the pioneer generation", he announced the new MediShield Life.

The health insurance scheme will embody three striking features. First, it is lifelong; second, it is universal and covers everyone, newborn and old alike, as well as pre-existing illnesses; and third, it will help cover large hospital bills.

With health care for the aged now getting more official attention at the national level, we would like to dwell on housing. Where will seniors retire to?

The gold standard in senior housing is "ageing in place". This concept refers to seniors continuing to live wherever they are now, such as in existing HDB estates. It would be an ideal solution if every senior had someone - a spouse, a family member or friend - to provide care and companionship as they became less able.

But our population is declining, and caregivers are scarce. Can two young people with two children cope with four ageing parents? What if the young persons are working abroad? Who will care for the growing number of aged singles like Annie?

The most popular of the various HDB solutions has been the "studio apartment". They come in two sizes, 35 sq m and 45 sq m, and are on a 30-year lease.

New-style retirement homes

HOWEVER, they do not provide for health care. We envision a new type of retirement home in our HDB estates. It is an extension of the studio apartment concept, but incorporates health care and social care in a holistic manner, bringing a range of health care, eldercare and voluntary groups together.

These would be high-rise blocks with smaller "housing units" of 18 sq m each. They would be equipped with bath, toilet and kitchenette, as well as elder-friendly features like non-slip floors, grab rails to assist mobility and a personal emergency response system, or Pers, in case of need. They would also incorporate some IT features to enable seniors to live more safely at home.

If you think 18 sq m, or about 200 sq ft - equal to the size of a lounge in a HDB flat - is too small, think again. A friend of ours, retired architect Andrew Tan, came up with a design for the units. In addition, each floor and block will incorporate common user-spaces like a laundry, lounge and a "sky garden" to bring in light and air. Such features would entice seniors to come out of their housing units to interact with other seniors.

The units, like standard HDB studio apartments, would be on short-leases.

These housing units would also be of modular design and scaleable, so that those who can afford them can purchase two or three adjoining units to create a bigger one. Thus, there could also be two-unit and three-unit designs, of 36 sq m and 54 sq m respectively, for singles and senior couples.

As these new-type retirement homes would be built by the HDB, they could come with space set aside for new services such as health screening, basic medical care by the Home Nursing Foundation, physiotherapy and podiatry, and even for a "senior navigator". In this way, seniors would remain very much an integral part of the community.

Seniors often suffer from loneliness due to the loss of family and friends, and of their strength and faculties. This is where voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) and faith groups can help seniors find companionship and meaning, helping others even as they themselves are helped.

In addition to VWOs, the new retirement residences can also count on support from the established citizen groups like the Citizens Consultative Committee, the Community Centre Management Committee, the Residents' Committee, Senior Activity Centre and wellness centres.

The housing units should be available initially to HDB owners, but can subsequently be offered to other seniors as well. Then, our HDB heartland would be even more integrated than they are now.

Health-care vision

WE SEE the HDB selling the new housing units together with a mandatory health-care package which covers periodic health screening with referral (if warranted) to medical services, as well as advice on health promotion and active ageing.

"Old" or "traded-in" HDB flats could also be refurbished and recycled to new buyers on shorter leases, priced accordingly.

The introduction of these clusters of housing units for seniors could be accompanied by the creation of a new position, of "senior navigator": A cheerful, friendly person to help seniors access the new housing units and government and social services already on offer, which many seniors may not be aware of.

Monetising assets

MANY seniors would be able to pay their own way if the Government enabled them to monetise their major asset, their HDB flats.

If we assume one housing unit of 18 sq m costs about $36,000 and a resale three-room HDB flat to be worth about $320,000, then in a sale-and-purchase transaction, the senior would acquire both a housing unit and residual cash of $284,000.

Obviously, the numbers for the housing unit, resale three-room flat and residual cash would vary according to the location, age and other factors, but the basic arithmetic would remain true.

This residual cash would be sufficient to pay for the senior's mandatory health-care package, MediShield Life premium as well as an annuity. He will then have a secure lifestyle, and may even leave a modest legacy.

We envision seniors retaining their dignity and sense of self-worth by cashing in their major asset, yet possessing an independent living space that comes with some health care and money in hand. Life is not much fun if one is asset-rich but cash-poor.

With our new-type retirement home, seniors can age in the HDB environment they are most comfortable in, with assurance of health care, dignity and meaning.


The authors are three doctors - of history, linguistics and medicine, respectively. Between them, they have more than 30 years of experience working with seniors in various non-profit organisations, including the NUS Senior Alumni, NTUC Eldercare, the Gerontological Society and RSVP (The Organisation of Senior Volunteers).
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‘Veeram’ premiere in Singapore delayed due to bank debt

January 12, 2014, 5:19 am
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By Yeo Sam Jo, The Straits Times, 11 Jan 2014

THE Singapore premiere of Tamil blockbuster Veeram was postponed after its producers failed to pay a bank debt in time and were not allowed to release the film, distributors told The Straits Times.

The movie was set to debut here on Thursday evening, but was cancelled after cinemas failed to obtain an encrypted code needed to unlock the digitally formatted movie. At least two cinemas, Rex Cinemas in Mackenzie Road and Golden Digital Theatre in Beach Road, were affected.



The film was to have been released yesterday in India and on Thursday in other countries, including Singapore.

But at about 8.30pm on Thursday, the two cinemas were told by the distributors to stop selling tickets, and that they would not be getting the necessary code.

This upset customers, some of whom had queued for more than nine hours for tickets. When customers at Rex Cinemas, where the movie had been scheduled for 9pm and 12.15am, refused to leave and began shouting at staff, the police were called in.

Patrons at both cinemas were eventually given refunds or had their tickets stamped for the next day's screenings.

Rex Cinemas owner Kumar, who declined to give his full name, said Rex received the code only at about 2.30am yesterday. A representative from film distributor AP International said cinemas across the Gulf and Europe were also affected by the delay.

Hundreds showed up at Rex Cinemas as early as 9am yesterday and were finally able to see the first screening at 11.45am.

Some of them were among those who had turned up the night before. Among them was engineer Karthik Thangavel, 33. "I've been a fan of Ajith Kumar since 1993," he said, referring to the film's lead actor, a major star.

Shaw Organisation's vice-president of media Terence Heng said problems with such codes, known as key delivery messages (KDMs), were rare as they would have been secured days before a screening.

A KDM is required to screen digitally formatted movies. Each KDM is unique and can work for only a specific cinema hall server and movie title.


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Man probed for posing as woman and making racist remarks online

January 12, 2014, 5:34 am
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By David Ee, The Straits Times, 11 Jan 2014

A 22-YEAR-OLD man is under investigation for making racially insensitive remarks on Facebook while posing as a woman with the fictitious name of Heather Chua.

The comments targeting Malays last week caused an outcry among netizens, and led to several police reports being lodged.

Yet to be named, he is assisting police with investigations.



The "Heather Chua" moniker gained notoriety online from early last year after numerous posts denigrating, among other groups, the poor and the lower-income.

"She" also hit out at Institute of Technical Education graduates, public housing residents and national servicemen.
"Heather Chua" claimed to be a 40-year-old Singaporean who studied engineering at the National University of Singapore and attended Raffles Girls' School and Temasek Junior College.

"She" also claimed to live at Sentosa Cove. Photographs of luxury cars "she" purportedly owned were posted on the Facebook account.

But netizens pointed out how the pictures of the cars appeared to have been altered digitally.

Thai actress and blogger Pimpatchara Vajrasevee had also accused "Heather Chua" of passing off photographs of the actress as "her" profile picture.

In a Facebook post last night, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said he had received complaints about "Heather Chua", and was glad the Singapore Police Force had established the identity of the man believed to be behind the fictitious profile.

He added that the Internet should be harnessed responsibly.

"Let's remember to be mindful of our words and to respect one another.

"We must uphold our racial harmony and social cohesion," he wrote.




Post by Lee Hsien Loong.



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Josephine Teo: 'Everything can't be perfect from Day One'

January 12, 2014, 6:13 am
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The $4.3 billion Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE), which Senior Minister of State for Transport Josephine Teo, 45, opened, made the news for getting motorists stuck in jams on Day One. She tells Goh Chin Lian about this and other 'learning' experiences.
The Straits Times, 11 Jan 2014


Even if the localised congestion did not happen at Central Boulevard, with the opening of anything new, you will always learn something. In that regard, things could always have been better. We tried our best to anticipate the situation and unfortunately it did happen. The next thing you need to do is to address the problem.

The congestion was messy but it did not last beyond the initial period. In the evening (of Dec 30), there was no such congestion. That situation has not been repeated. Nonetheless, the right thing is for us to look into what happened and understand what contributed to this localised congestion.

Central Boulevard had to be widened (from two to four lanes) to relieve the congestion...

We cannot have the attitude that everything will be perfect from Day One. If we go in with that attitude, it can only mean that we have to build in a lot of redundancy.



After the jam, more signs and advertisements on the routes came up. Why not earlier?

I once got a speeding ticket (in Singapore) and was adamant there was no signage (for speed limit). I had driven on this road umpteen times. I thought: "Never mind. Tomorrow I'll pay attention." True enough, I saw the sign. Sometimes we don't notice (the signs) because we don't need them. You can always have more (signs and advertisements). But you have to be interested.



This week, penalties and rewards were announced to improve the punctuality of buses. Why the $6,000 carrot (for six seconds' improvement) but $4,000 stick (six seconds late)?

Feedback from commuters was that en route reliability was not satisfactory. We came to know of Transport for London, in the UK, where this system has been in place for a number of years. It works very well. It focuses the mind of the operator and encourages them to bring resources to bear.



Why are the amounts for carrot and stick unequal?

That's how London has set it up. To outperform, you'd take more resources than if your performance were to slip, which does not need additional effort.



Will the fines will be passed on to the commuter?

If you look at the amounts involved, I don't think so.



What other things are you all mulling over to improve (bus services)?

A number of things are set in motion. We decided to engage private bus operators in case there was surplus capacity. The private bus operators are equally busy with the tourism business, but in certain parts of the day, they may have some spare capacity.



What's the update on free non-peak morning travel on the MRT?

The number of people exiting in the pre-peak period has gone up 20 per cent. Ridership has not gone up 20 per cent. It means that a significant number of people who are exiting in the pre-peak time belt used to be in the peak.

Another indicator is to take the number of people in the trains during the peak period, divide it by the number of people in the pre-peak period. When we first started, in the peak of peak, one hour, the loading was 2.7 times more than the hour before. That ratio has come down to around two.

People weren't necessarily shifting because they wanted to save $1.25. (It) allowed them a lifestyle change.

One lady I spoke to comes into the office earlier (and) goes home earlier: "Now I have more time to cook dinner and spend with my family. I'm enjoying it a lot."

A group has taken advantage of the time they now have in the morning to exercise in the city. We've a programme with the Health Promotion Board, Sunrise in the City, where we use open spaces in the malls (for example, Central at Clarke Quay) to organise exercise activities.



A poll by the Land Transport Authority found many employees unaware of flexible work options (to avoid the morning rush). What can be done?

We've learnt that employers are responsive to what their employees want. If enough employees say they would like to come in to work earlier, (employers) will respond. We've some plans to promote greater awareness among employees. There's scope perhaps to reach out through the unions. We'd probably be able to get together something in this quarter.



How can the taxi fare structure be simplified?

It's evolved from when the structure was very flat. The complaint then was that fares were not able to match demand and supply. Surcharges got more complex when you've got more operators.



Commuters want the fare structure to be as flat as possible. But they also want to be able to hop in a cab (and) have a tendency to use the cab at a certain time belt, at certain locations. How simple can you get without blunting the signal to the taxi driver?

Taxi drivers will tell you rentals differ according to the operator, the make and when the driver got (the cab). From their standpoint, if you standardise the fare at a low level, the one paying high rental will feel aggrieved because he used to be able to recover it through a differentiated higher fare. But if you set the standard fare too high, the (driver) will say: "You're affecting demand." Or he gets a windfall. You have different pockets of drivers who feel this is not fair.



Could the surcharges be removed?

Those are within consideration. But what is clear is that we are simplifying the structures but actual fares we still have to leave it to the operators. They are the ones who have to deal with the twin considerations of cost and how it affects takings, and then in turn affects the rentals.



The National Taxi Association (NTA) recommended a discount for cabbies on Electronic Road Pricing charges (in the Central Business District). What do you think?

A cab driver wants the certainty that there is a fare to be picked up. If there is no fare, the ERP can be very low and discounted, it still doesn't mean he will want to go there. The more productive conversation is around how you can give taxi drivers better information on where the fares are.

ComfortDelGro offers to refund (taxi drivers) the ERP charge if after going into the CBD within a certain timeframe, they are still not able to pick up a fare. It hasn't had to do many refunds. The NTA can engage other taxi operators to introduce something that would give taxi drivers certainty.

If I were a taxi driver, I'd like to pay less ERP because I'd get to take home more. But ultimately the ERP is paid by the passenger. The passenger says: "Why should the taxi driver pay less for ERP and not pass on the savings to me?" If we were to implement the scheme as proposed, wouldn't the commuters have an issue, too?



Is Changi Airport's $1.47 billion Project Jewel complex with nearly 70 per cent of retail space, a vanity showpiece?

The airport in (South) Korea has a prominent cultural centre and they have Louis Vuitton. Which one do you think is busier? We need the cultural showcases. But people do enjoy shopping. Changi Airport has to be responsive to what passengers want.



What can people look forward to in the Budget? (Mrs Teo's other portfolio is finance).

Over the last couple of years, the themes are quite consistent - how we can help everybody progress together. There're different emphases. We've done pre-school (and) a major piece on health care. But the health-care piece is not done. Reasonable to expect more in that regard.

It's a continuation of the work that has already started, whether it is on the economic front or the social front. In that sense, the Budget will not be surprising. When you eventually hear the Budget, I think there will be a high degree of familiarity because it will be a continuation of themes from the last few years.
On leadership succession in the labour movement, one name thrown up for the next secretary-general is yours. What do you think? (Mrs Teo was previously assistant secretary-general).

I had a very good five years in the labour movement. I hope I made some contributions. I will go wherever it is that I can be the best contributor.



Any time for hobbies? (The MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC's husband, Mr Teo Eng Cheong, is chief executive officer of IE Singapore, and they have three teenage children.)

Every year, I make it a point to travel with my family. It's my protected time with my kids. Twice a year, I need to remind them that they do have a mother. I enjoy being a mum. I think I would have had four kids if not for politics.



What's for supper

Frankie's Place Blk 280, Bishan St 24
- Fried fish porridge: $4.40
- Carrot cake: $2.50
- Lime juice: $1.30
- Iced Milo: $1.40
- Total: $9.60



THE SUPPER CLUB JOSEPHINE TEO
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