publichouse.sg

In Part 2 of Elaine Ee's interview with Ms Nicole Seah of the National Solidarity Party, we focus on politics and civil society, and on online discourse.

Here are some excerpts of what Ms Seah said. Please view the video below. [Watch Part 1 here.]

On the PAP:

“I would say that people such as Mdm Halimah, Dr Lily Neo, BG Tan Chuan Jin, these are the people who really give us hope and faith that the PAP has the leaders that it needs to carry us into the next generation.”

This is Part 2 of publichouse.sg’s interview with Minister Chan Chun Sing. You can view Part 1 here: Chan Chun Sing – The price of politics.

By Ko Siew Huey & Andrew Loh

Chan Chun Sing is an earnest man. When talking about policies, the minister speaks with an almost evangelistic zeal, launching into lengthy explanations about the complex considerations behind government decisions.

The Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), and Minister of State, Ministry for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica), has been thrown into the hot seat overseeing Singapore’s welfare programmes for the needy after the General Election last year.

At a time when income inequality looms as a growing social concern in Singapore, and with calls for the political leadership to do more for the economically disenfranchised, Chan stoically defends the track record of the government from critics who charge that the Government still views “welfare” as a dirty word. The minister, however, is more interested in the substance of the programmes to help the needy than whether Singapore is recognized as a “welfare state.”

Shooting nudes has been an artistic passion of Marcus Mok’s for many years. Especially male nudes. Using male friends and other willing subjects, Mok put together an impressive portfolio of nudes, some in colour, some in black and white, many shot in the great outdoors—on a beach with crashing waves, against a rugged cliff, in thick jungle. Others are shot close-up, sensuously revealing the smooth contours of a model’s body—the curve of his shoulder blades, the ripples on his abdomen, sinewy thighs and muscular buttocks—sometimes emblazoned with tattoos.

By Elaine Ee

The following article is written for and first published on inSing.com.

Finally, the government is addressing the issue of preschool education in Singapore.

It has set up a committee to improve preschool education, and will also set up a statutory board to help develop and regulate this sector.

It’s all good, hopefully. But a major fundamental issue remains unaddressed here, one that puts a huge load on parents with children in preschool - the fees.

Paying preschool fees falls largely on the shoulders of the parents. Even with subsidies and the Baby Bonus’ dollar-for-dollar savings scheme, the tab that is left for the parents to pick up is still significant, because what is considered low-cost for one household may be high-cost to another. It’s all relative. A household with very low income will still find post-subsidy preschool fees a real pinch.

By Elaine Ee / Pictures by Biddy Low

The Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), tells publichouse.sg how he views himself as a politician, how he deals with criticism, and what guides him.

It’s tough being a politician in Singapore these days. In some ways, it is even tougher being a People’s Action Party (PAP) politician. Public opinion against the PAP has grown significantly. A 50-year monopoly on power, high ministerial pay and the ruling party’s perceived privilege and elitism—combined with a widening social divide; a more vocal, demanding and questioning populace; and the open platform of the Internet—have alienated this party from many Singaporeans on the ground, as content and comments circulating freely online show. The loss of Aljunied GRC to the opposition Workers’ Party in the last General Election and the WP’s solid victory in the recent Hougang by-election, are perhaps the most prominent signs of unhappiness on the ground with the ruling party.

"Our education system has a brain; now it needs more of a heart." - Elaine Ee, mother of three.

Imagine this. Your boss calls you into an hour-long meeting and for that entire duration tells you everything he or she thinks is not good enough about you. At the end of that meeting, you emerge feeling terrible—discouraged, angry, sad, indignant etc.

Now imagine you hear that same negative messaging over and over again, every single day, for weeks and months on end. And you are only 9, 12 or 15 years old. How will you end up feeling about yourself? How will that affect your performance and decisions? Adversely, quite likely. Many children in Singapore schools face just this.