Singapore's 2013 - Annus Horribilis Or Annus Mirabilis?
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www.newzzit.com Issue 11, January 1, 2014, Price S$1 Singapore's 2013 - annus horribilis or annus mirabilis? Singapore Map, Courtesy: URA What's Inside? Over a Cup of Tea January This is a special issue of Newzzit, a look back at Politics: By-election defeat leads call to 2013, albeit with a twist. transform February The stories are not Immigration: Population White Paper to arranged chronologically. “fair” treatment of Singaporeans Rather, I have picked an March important event in a particular month. Crime: Todd and Kovan Assigned the topic the event deals with to that month, and woven everything that April happened in Singapore related to that Health: Dengue is still a menace particular topic in the story of that month. May Corruption: Few aberrations, but system For example, the story of January (month) still works deals with politics (topic) and narrates every June important political event that made news in 2013. Be it the Punggol East by-election in Environment: Looking forward to a hazy January, empty ballot boxes found in August June again? or the PAP's Convention in December. July Sports: Some unexpected results Even though some stories might have been August left out due to paucity of space, I sincerely hope that after reading our 11th issue, you People: Let's build a better Singapore will have a general idea about what together happened in Singapore in the past one year. September Society: Poverty and race issues need to be addressed Readers who want to share more stories, October which they think mattered in 2013, are welcome to do so on Newzzit's website. Economy: Uncertain times November May 2014 be the best for all of us! Cyber world: Hope the master-plan works next year December Gaurav Labour: Singapore can do better An e-newspaper from Singapore published on the 1st and 16th of every month at 6am SGT. Newzzit, as a policy is against monopolising knowledge, and thus holds no copyright on any material published in our newspaper. Any article or part of it can be copied, shared and distributed free of charge, and without any permission whatsoever. January Politics: By-election defeat leads call to transform The year started with defeat for the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) in Punggol East Single Member Constituency (SMC) on January 26, and ended with a resolution at party's convention calling to “transform the PAP”. In between, there was also the discovery of empty ballot boxes used in 2011 Presidential Elections. Punggol East by-election Michael Palmer, the former speaker of Parliament, resigned from his Punggol East SMC seat, for having an extramarital affair. PAP unveiled a colorectal surgeon, Dr Koh Poh Koon, as its candidate, who was defeated by opposition Workers' Party candidate Lee Li Lian with a 13.5% voter swing in her favour. This was PAP third electoral set- All nine Workers' Party members of Parliament, back after loosing Aljunied Group Representation Courtesy: Workers' Party Constituency in 2011 general elections, and Hougang SMC by-election in 2012. PAP's Convention It prompted the ruling PAP to adopt an eight-point resolution, a first since 1988, at the party's convention on December 8. The resolution included the realisation of the need to “transform the PAP” and keep the party “fresh, enthusiastic and relevant”. The party also emphasised on the need to develop a Singaporean model of social welfare, “a Singaporean Singapore”, and “a democracy of deeds”. PAP's Convention 2013, Courtesy: People's Action Party Empty ballot boxes The year also witnesses a controversy when few empty ballot boxes used during the 2011 Presidential Election in the electoral division of Bishan-Toa Payoh were found in August in a secondary school. Chan Chun Sing, minister for social and family development, later assured the Parliament that discovery of boxes “does not constitute a lapse in the election procedures”. February Immigration: Population White Paper to “fair” treatment of Singaporeans On February 16, a protest rally was held against the 6.9 million projected population of Singapore in 2030, as indicated in the Population White Paper put forward by the government. Another protest followed up in May. The government reacted by introducing the new Fair Consideration Framework, which requires employers to consider Singaporeans “fairly” before hiring overseas workers. Population White Paper It all started when Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean released the Population White Paper titled, A Sustainable Population for a Dynamic Singapore, on January 29, 2013. It was the population policy roadmap to address Singapore’s demographic challenge as illustrated by the city-state's total fertility rate of 1.2 in 2011, which is way below the replacement level of 2.1. Teo emphasised on the Paper's three-pronged objective of - strengthening the Singaporean core by encouraging Singaporeans to procreate, creating good jobs for increasingly Teo addressing a town-hall dialogue, Courtesy: better educated Singaporeans, and ensuring a high National Population and Talent Division, Prime quality living environment for all. “However, to Minister's Office prevent our Singaporean population from ageing and shrinking, we will take in immigrants, but at a measured pace,” he said. And this “pace” as indicated in the Paper would mean that “Singapore’s total population could reach between 6.5 and 6.9 million by 2030. The resident population (comprising citizens and PRs) is projected to be 4.2 to 4.4 million, of which citizens alone will make up 3.6 to 3.8 million, as the growth in the citizen population slows.” Suddenly, the figure of “6.9 million by 2030” in a country where immigration has been a hot topic since the general elections of 2011, took over the public discourse by storm. The Parliament too hotly debated the issue for five days – the longest in recent history, and passed an amended motion voting along the party lines with 77 People's Action Party (PAP) votes against the rest. The amended motion put forward by PAP's member of parliament from Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency Liang Eng Hwa recognised “that the population projections beyond 2020 are for the purpose of land use and infrastructure planning, and not a population target”. Even after that, a section of the public, led by non-profit society, Transitioning – Unemployment Support Service (TUSS), remained unconvinced. It organised the first protest rally in February and followed it up with another in May. The main opposition Workers' Party also joined the discourse with its own population paper with “a projected population of 5.6 to 5.8 million in 2030, of which 3.4 to 3.5 million would be Singapore citizens”. Fair Consideration Framework To further quail any fears on immigration, the government introduced a set of new rules - Fair Consideration Framework (FCF) – in September, which requires employers to consider Singaporeans “fairly” before hiring overseas workers. The ministry of manpower (MOM) emphasised that the framework, which will come into effect on August 1, 2014, is not about “Hire Singaporeans First, or Hire Singaporeans Only”. Rather it is to help Singaporeans get a “fair” opportunity at “good jobs and fulfil their career aspirations”. According to the FCF, firms must advertise their vacancies on a new job bank (website) administered by the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) for at least 14 days before submitting the Employment Pass (EP) applications to MOM. March Crime: Todd and Kovan The death of a young American engineer, Shane Todd, which occurred in 2012 came into spotlight again, when Institute of Microelectronics (IME), a Singapore government research agency, rebutted in March an article published in the Financial Times (FT) a month earlier. A coroner's inquest was held and the death was ruled a suicide. Later in the year, the police department was shaken when Iskandar Rahmat, one of their own, was accused of double-murders on July 10 in the Kovan area. Shane Todd: a suicide The curious case of Shane Todd, which had generated much international attention ever-since FT's article, Death in Singapore, was published, came to a conclusion on July 8. On that day, a coroner ruled Todd's death as a result of suicide, contrary to his family's claims of him being murdered. Before his death, Todd, was working at IME. He was found hanging in his bathroom after he had left his job to return to the US. While the initial police investigations pointed towards a suicide, the Todd family gathered support from few US senators and launched a campaign claiming his death was a murder linked to his work at IME. Initially, Shane Todd, Courtesy: the family attended the coroner's inquiry but quit mid-way http://www.justice4shanetodd. unexpectedly and returned to US. com/ After, Chay Yuen Fatt, the state corner, said that he was “satisfied that there was no foul play involved in the deceased’s death”, the US embassy in Singapore too issued a statement praising the inquest as “comprehensive, fair and transparent”. Kovan double-murders While Shane Todd's death was big international news, the crime story that hogged the limelight at home was the double-murders at Hillside Drive in Kovan. Tan Boon Sin, 66, and Tan Chee Heong, 42, a father-and-son pair, were found murdered with a blood trail one km apart linking their bodies. Disturbingly, the accused was a senior staff sergeant in Singapore police force, Iskandar Rahmat, who was arrested in Johor Bahru after a 54-hour manhunt. The murder trial will start in March 2014. Police Commissioner Ng Joo Hee called it “a sad day for the police”. “Officer Iskandar's fall from grace has also brought dishonour to the 10,000 other police officers who dedicate themselves every day to protecting others, and who routinely risk their own safety to preserve those of others,” he said.