Opinions

President Halimah Yacob spoke at the Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilisations in China where she highlighted challenges faced by Singapore in encouraging and fostering inter-racial and inter-religious ties. 

She highlighted that Singapore is a strictly secular state that treats everyone equally regardless of race or religion. Singaporeans are free to practice their faith, so long as these faiths do not impinge upon others.

Halimah also pointed out the constitutional changes to the elected Presidency (EP), which enabled her to become President.

While Singapore is relatively harmonious, she knows that it is not perfect and that the maintenance of harmony is always a work in progress.

Halimah Yacob is not wrong. Yes, Singapore is relatively harmonious. True, maintaining harmony is an ongoing endeavour that can never be completed.

However, the EP is not the right example to showcase equality for all races in Singapore. Furthermore, there was no contest because no other candidates could pass the very stringent criteria that was set out. This cannot be seen as a positive for the community. This does not equate to minority representation. If anything, Singaporeans are more suspect of the EP and the constitutional amendment.

For that reason, harmony in Singapore is always a work in progress.

A committee convened by NUS to look into the university's policies on sexual misconduct on campus has completed its review. In general, it has proposed taking a tougher stance on the matter.

The committee found that there was a clear need to recalibrate the sanctions framework, and enhance the penalties for cases of sexual misconduct. 

This ensures that the punishment becomes an effective deterrent for would-be offenders.

Among the proposed changes was a notation in the offender's transcript and will be disclosed for work and internship purposes in the future. This notation carries the offence made by the offender. It will also remain on the transcrip for a period of time. The committee also proposes to increase the minimum suspension period to one calendar year. For more severe cases, the offenders will face expulsion from the university.

The proposals thus far is reassuring.

However, this should be echoed by an MOE-wide review for teritiary institutions (including polytechnics and ITEs) in Singapore.

It cannot be the case that different rules apply for different groups of people. The only differentiating factor should be the severity of the offence, not which institutions they are at.

A Singaporean female, Ms Lim, lambasted CGH at the alleged poor treatment meted out to her grandmother, who recently passed away. From the length and detail in the post, her torment and anger were very palpable.

You can see her full post here:

Her grandmother is a dementia patient who was warded at CGH in Feb this year after a fall. The fall resulted in compression fractures which needed time to heal. Then on, her grandmother was in and out of CGH due to several bouts of UTI (urinary tract infection).

She was eventually warded in a dementia-specific ward, Ward 68, in April. The condition deteriorated further. She was suspected of having ischemic bowels after she vomitted blood and had stomach aches. Due to her fragile condition, the doctors explained that there was nothing further that they could do, except to provide palliative care. They prepared the family for the worst.

Despite her frail condition, the grandmother managed to push through for another nine more days. In those nine days, Ms Lim saw how some of the doctors and nurses were “unprofessional, unsympathetic, and insensitive towards my grandma and family”. The experience was so bad that they eventually made the difficult call to transfer the grandmother to NUH, despite knowing that she may not be able to take the journey there.

Even then, the doctors at CGH did not want to share the grandmother's medical records with CGH. The family also had to source out for an ambulance to transfer the grandmother on their own.

The experiences at NUH was a stark contrast to the poor service at CGH. There the nurses and doctors found severe bedsores, to the surprise of the family. These bedsores were immediately treated. On top of that, the family was also given booklets on coping with the end of life. The nurses also routinely checked on the gradmother at more frequent intervals, and were careful and professional when doing their checks.

This wide difference in standards deserves further scrutiny.

Hospitals must exercise great care and sensitivity when dealing with end-of-life patients. Whatever that can be done to make the patient's final moments more comfortable, should be carried out by the hospital. They must be more sensitive to the feelings of the family members who struggle to cope with the impending death of a loved one.

Hospitals must also work together and share the medical records of such patients, if they are to be transferred from one hospital to another. Surely, the patient has to be prioritised.

This case illustrates plainly the cultural and systemic weaknesses that need to be addressed. On their own, these hospitals may not want to work with each other for professional or economic reasons. This is where the Minsitry of Health can step in to provide a better framework and guidelines that these hospitals must abide by to ensure that all hospitals meet a certain standard of service and competence.

Have you ever wondered about how your future children can take care of you after you lose your job due to old age/critical illnesses? With the rising cost of living in Singapore coupled with the bad job market, how can one person both build a family and take care of a person who is gravely ill? A 22 year old boy laments on this issue:

For those who don't know me, I'm 22 and just finished my National Service. I'm currently living with my mum who single handedly brought me up (dad abandoned us when I was still a baby). Just the other day, I had a thought. "What if my mum falls so ill that she has to lose her job and has to go for regular cfheck ups/treatments?" How will I be able to afford it?

From what I can gather, when my grandparents were ill, they had many children to help chip in some money/help take care of them. However, probably due to the high costs of raising a child in Singapore, our parents generation has been conceiving lesser children. (Like just one child, in my case)

So how then can I ensure that I will be able to earn enough to both build a family + take care of my mum in the future? I must be able to finance a new house (like most of us growing up would want), pay off bills for my mom's check up and treatments, raise a child or two, etc.

Is there a way the Government can help us? Can they make healthcare, raising a child and housing more affordable? Or can they ensure us a higher wage so that we will be able to keep up with the rising costs? Can they ensure us job security by providing us with more jobs instead of outsourcing to people from other countries? If they do not have such fixes for us, I will continue to worry for my future and also the future of my children.

Credits: Facebook

The state of Penang is lobbying the Malaysian government to submit a joint bid with Singapore, for the listing of their hawker culture heritage with Unesco. 

A Penang parliamenterian urged the state government to be aggressive in their lobbying or risk losing out. He also claimed that the food in Penang is more famous than the food in Singapore.

Singapore and Malaysia are the same. Yet at the same time, we are very different.

What are the implications of a joint-bid for us here in Singapore? 

We have been good neighbours but our neighbours have been antagonising us since Mahatir Mohamad became PM. 

By submitting a joint-bid, it may dilute the world's understanding and appreciation of our own unique hawker culture. Already, many people in the world still think that we are a part of China. With a joint-bid, people may think that Singapore and Malaysia are the same country. There'll be more confusion. 

Furthermore, there'll be no assurances that there'll be no more provocations from Mahathir and his followers.

If Malaysia is not a member country, then it is up to them to become a member country first. Then they can think about showcasing their heritage and culture.

LTA ruled that Gojek driver, Kamaruzzaman Abdul Latiff, had gone against privacy guidelines by uploading a video of a female passenger and himself in his car. He was issued with a conditional warning. He has to maintain a clean driving record up to the next 12 months.

Kamaruzzaman had begun recording the video as a precautionary measure as the female passenger, Jovina Choi, had alleged that he had purposely gone through an ERP gantry. She later also claimed that she had tried to kidnap him when she was unable to leave the car.

On one hand, this ruling reassures us that our privacy while using these PHVs is not compromised.

However, from the perspective of drivers, this could disdvantage them when there are disputes with passengers. It could also help prevent sexual assaults or robberies against the drivers.

The regulators and industry players need to come together to find a solution that is fair to all parties.