Category Archives: General

Speech on Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) (Amendment) Bill – 9 March 2012

Sir, many I spoke with welcome this amendment because of prior bad experiences with purchases. Like them and Member Mr Lim Biow Chuan, I had at some point in time purchased products that failed to work soon after the purchase was made. Most retailers in Singapore do not have a ‘no-question-asked’ refund policy. This Lemon …

Read more »

Selected Parliamentary Questions I Raised (Oct 2011 – Feb 2012)

For convenience of access, I have compiled a selection of some of the parliamentary questions (PQs) and Supplementary Questions (SQs) I raised over the past five months below (Source: http://www.parliament.gov.sg/publications-singapore-parliament-reports): MITA Divestments of JTC’s properties (21 Oct 2011) 8 Mr Yee Jenn Jong asked the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) how many properties of JTC Corporation …

Read more »

Goodbye to eventful 2011, hello 2012

We bid goodbye to 2011. 2011 has been an eventful year. It was a bad year for despots. The world saw the deaths of the Al Qaeda terror network leader Osama Bin Laden, Libya’s long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi and North Korea’s Dear Leader Kim Jong Il. It also saw many other strongmen dethroned. The Arab Spring that began …

Read more »

A photo journey of Bhutan (part 1) – Architecture and environment

All photographs are copyright of the author unless otherwise stated. Future posts will cover education, life, religion and government. An edcation exchange trip to Bhutan In March 2011, I went with a group of 11 other educators to the Kingdom of Bhutan on an education exchange programme. It was self organised and self funded, with team …

Read more »

A new National Day for me

National day has always been a reminder of how old I am. I was born in the year of our independence, though not on the same date. I am as old as modern Singapore. The celebrations will splash the age of our nation which is now a reminder to me that my age is adding …

Read more »

A new blog about Joo Chiat

I have put up a new blog relating to Joo Chiat. Do check it out at: http://joochiattoday.wordpress.com. Recent articles include a meeting with Philip Chew, great grandson of Chew Joo Chiat, the philanthropist whom the place was named after. Will be updating the site with new content approximately once a week. Do suggest issues I can …

Read more »

Let artists paint a vibrant Singapore

This article appeared in TODAY, 23  May 2011, page  18. I refer to Major-General (NS) Chan Chun Seng’s call for young artists to ‘paint some nice murals on the bland walls at the voice decks’ (TODAY, 21 May).   In July 2010, after the case of grafitti on our MRT, I had written a letter published …

Read more »

Impressions of Bhutan

Visiting Bhutan is quite an experience. This landlocked country high up in Himalayas has been a mystery to me for a long time. I have heard of it being the happiest place of earth and the king being concerned about the happiness of his subjects that he designed a Gross National Happiness (GNH) index while other …

Read more »

Ruling a nation with love – Lessons by the Kings of Bhutan

After a recent visit to Bhutan , I am totally impressed by their kings. They serve as good examples to all monarchs and political leaders on how to rule with love for their country. The former and fourth king of Bhutan , H.M. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck felt monarchy is not the best form of government because …

Read more »

TODAY Voices Jul 6, 2010 – Why not liven up MRT cabins legally?

Published in TODAY Voices Jul 6, 2010 (following is original unedited article) Those who have seen the recent MRT grafitti seemed to agree on one thing – that it was done artistically. Even the MRT staff thought it was an advertisement and hence did not report it. And it was done in the dark of the night! …

Read more »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 62 other followers