Politics

Is it heng for Singaporeans that Heng Swee Keat may well be the next Prime Minister? According to the Singapore Democratic Party's latest publication, they are not so sure.

It is no surprise that Heng is the Chosen One, but will he enact changes to improve the lives of Singaporeans? Let's all face it: Singaporeans are having to deal with more problems as society advances. Will the age of Heng see an solution to these problems or will it make things worse?

According to the SDP, Heng did not seem to have done enough when he was Education or Finance Minister. "Judging by what Mr Heng has said and done in the past, it seems that he is more concerned about toeing the party line rather than thinking and acting out of the box for Singapore's sake."

He did not tweak the education system enough to foster an environment where students can think critically and creatively, nor did he do anything to prevent tax hikes and price increases. Thanks to this, Singapore can be proud that we are the most, if not one of the most expensive cities in the world today.

"Mr Heng has not articulated a plan that would take this country to a brighter future. Instead, he has been on auto-pilot mode cruising along with his fellow ministers, bankrupt of ideas but continuing to collect the astronomical salaries that they all feel entitled to. 

No matter who gets chosen to be the next PM, the PAP script has been written and all the next leader will do is to follow it. Nothing has changed - and therein lies the danger for Singapore."

Heng or suay? Not like we have a say. 

The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has called for authorities to stop targeting TOC, Terry Xu and The Independent Singapore (TISG). It condemns the clampdown of alternative news sites as it reflects "a government that is totally out-of-sync with a maturing population". 

It demanded the authorities to produce factual accounts to support their reasons for targeting TOC and TISG. After all, Singaporeans are surely mature enough to form their own conclusions. SDP also felt unfair that TOC was targeted despite having removed the offending article. It said: "The tactic of ordering the police to visit the publisher's home to raid and confiscate equipment is unbecoming of a country that aspires to be first world"" and asked that the police return Terry Xu's equipment. 

"The truth is that Singaporeans want to see more factual information being presented and debated, not government orders to take down posts it deems untrue". 

SDP speculated that the sudden crackdown on alternative sites may be related to a looming election. "The PAP is obviously feeling the heat as the next general elections looms and resentment of its policies among Singaporeans spreads. The clampdown on the social media serves only to infuriate an already angry public.

Such actions will further hold Singapore back in our effort to break free of a suffocating authoritarian government and join mature and sophisticated nations in the developed world."

What is going to happen now that so many people have spoken against the crackdown of these alternative sites? Will things get resolved or just be shut down and swept under the rug?

Credits to SDP's article

On a Facebook post last Friday, SDP's Dr Chee Soon Juan came out all guns firing, when he responded to ESM Goh Chok Tong's tall story that Dr Chee had gone to Williams College to slam Singapore.

ESM Goh had gone to Williams College when he was awarded an honorary degree back in 1995, while Dr Chee had also spoken at Williams College before. In his FB post, Dr Chee bashed the allegations that ESM Goh placed at him, saying that he had actually spoken about Singapore's progress and had even given the PAP credit for taking the nation thus far. He even said that Singaporeans cannot deny that Singapore's development to where we are today owes much to these politicians, even if they come from the PAP.

But Dr Chee urged Singaporeans not to fall for the rhetoric that when PAP's current policies are criticised, it means we are criticising Singapore. He said that we should be able to criticise PAP's policies and their style of governance, as the PAP is not Singapore, and Singapore is not PAP. 

Dr Chee also urged others not to be small minded and indulge in the petty politics of character assassination and personal destruction, a clear dig at the PAP who have made an art of both dark acts.

PM Lee Hsien Loong has not ruled out Singapore's next General Elections to be held next year. The GE, which must be held by January 2021, has seen a constant source of speculation about it being called earlier. 

Next year will mark 200 years since Singapore's founding by Sir Stamford Raffles. The 200th anniversary milestone is expected to be celebrated in a big way in Singapore, which many pointing out the feel good factor of the celebrations and the many freebies that might await Singaporeans would be the sweetener for the GE to be called.

PM Lee was speaking at a dialogue held as part of a welcome dinner at the Bloomberg Economy Forum. By not writing off election year as being called next year, most anticipates that he will call for it once the sweeteners take effect, and Singaporeans are not too angry with the policies of the incumbent government. As it stands, there have been a lot of unhappiness in recent months, which PM Lee and his team would hope would dissipate with the 200th anniversary celebrations

Singaporean activist Han Hui Hui was invited to Paris to speak at the Human Rights Defenders World Summit. In a Facebook post on 29 Oct, she announced that she will focus on housing and healthcare issues in Singapore.

She said that there are pregnant mothers who have to painstakingly pay their full medical fees in cash despite the government's Medishield schemes. Singapore may appear to be a first world country but do we actually offer first class services? Should the government be drawing profits from our public healthcare and housing? When will Singaporeans ever own their own houses? When will Singaporeans be able to retire comfortably?

Han will also address issues relating to women, children, race and disabilities. 

PAP Minister Indranee Rajah finally admits what Singaporeans have known for a long time, that by streaming students into various streams are part of the reasons why Singapore faces a class and social divide.

The recent debate over class divide have take precedence in Singapore, where many Singaporeans agree that class, more than religion or race, are the main factors that Singaporeans are divided in, so much so that there is a clear distinction between the elites, medium income earners and the low wage earners. She said that when the Singapore school system was introduced and started streaming students into the Express, Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams, it was meant to deal with different learning abilities of the students. Instead, while that had happened, a by-product of this streaming system also sees students started labeling the different abilities with class, and this have helped create a divide among the society. 

She also said that Singaporeans are smart enough to bridge the gaps, by recognising the intrinsic worth of human values instead of measuring them by material possessions such wealth, money or the nice clothes they wear. She obviously forgot to bring this up to ESM Goh, who labelled average Singaporeans as mediocre when comparing salaries of Ministers to middle income earners. And he haven't got to the low class income earners yet.