publichouse.sg

By Andrew Loh

For the longest time, Singaporeans were told to either be “very careful” when they talk about minority issues, in particular issues affecting the Malay community, or to not talk about them at all. These are “sensitive issues” and are best discussed and resolved by the community itself. Singapore’s past history of communal riots have often been cited as one of the reasons why such issues are best spoken in hushed tones behind closed doors, if at all.

But Singapore (and Singaporeans) has come a long way from the riots and violence of earlier days. If there were any doubts that Singaporeans are capable of discussing these matters openly, honestly, and even robustly, they were demolished at a forum organised by the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) on Saturday.

The forum, titled “The future of Singapore - Do Malays have a part?”, saw a turn-out of more than 100 which packed the room at Bras Basah Complex. The SDP described the event as “historic” in its pre-forum article on its website. And in many ways, it is. It has been a while since such an event was held on such “sensitive” matters.

By Andrew Loh

Since the ’80s, the Government has introduced more measures to try and up the birth rate in Singapore – to no avail. (See here.)

Some 94 per cent of those polled in a Channelnesasia survey after PM Lee’s National Day Rally speech said the measures he announced to encourage Singaporeans to have babies will not help raise the birth rate.

But underlying all these measures is a serious concern, as with any country which is facing the same situation. Their governments too have tried and are trying all kinds of measures to prop up their birth rates too.

Singapore’s birth rate problem  was first raised by then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew in 1983 and since then, it has been a huge headache not only for the Government but also for anyone who is concerned.

So, what -really – can be done?

In February this year, 200 Bangladeshi workers conducted a sit-in over a salary dispute with their employers Sunway Concrete Pte Ltd and TechCom Construction. The workers said then that they made to work till 12 am on busy days, without overtime pay.

More recently, in August, some workers at the Panasonic company protested when they too were cheated of their salaries.

It has come to our knowledge that Yangzijiang International (S) Pte Ltd requires its workers to agree to no overtime pay when the workers work on the weekends. Printed on its “Work Record Card” for its workers, it says:

By Andrew Loh

Lawyer M Ravi has taken out an application in the courts to “expel” all council members of the Law Society. Mr Ravi, who filed the application on Friday, said of the society, "I am of the view that the Respondent - which is the governing statutory body of amongst other [sic], all practising advocates and solicitors in Singapore - has pursued various judicial and extra-judicial actions against me with malice, bad faith, recklessness and negligence, in breach of statutory and common law duties owed to me as a practising member of the Bar."

He is also asking the courts to order that "elections be called to replace the expelled said current Council members" within 30 days.

Mr Ravi’s actions follow earlier controversial behaviour by the Law Society on 15 July. Mr Wong Siew Hong, chairman of the Law Society’s Member Care Committee, received a letter from psychiatrist, Dr Calvin Fones, who had seen and assessed Mr Ravi’s state of mind on 14 July. In his letter, which was addressed to the “Law Society”, Dr Fones said Mr Ravi was “having a manic relapse of his bipolar disorder” and added that Mr Ravi “is currently unfit to practice law and his illness is likely to affect his professional capacity.”