When I Was Young

Image via Wikipedia

Still on the natural disaster side, monsoon rain has its impact on 5 villages in India. Read the news here.

Image via Wikipedia

While this gets a go in India, it does not in Singapore. Read the news here.

Posted: 17 June 2009 1610 hrs

Jet Li

SINGAPORE: Chinese action star Jet Li has taken up Singapore citizenship and bought a property in the city state worth nearly S$20 million (US$14 million), according to a report.

The Business Times did not say when the Beijing-born star took up his new nationality or bought the upmarket property. It did not give its source.

Singapore's Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) would not confirm the newspaper report when contacted by AFP for reasons of confidentiality.

A Beijing-based staff member at Li's One Foundation contacted by AFP declined comment.

Li is the latest Chinese star to have taken up Singapore citizenship, following in the footsteps of leading actress Gong Li, who shot to fame with her roles in "Farewell My Concubine" and later "Memoirs of a Geisha."

Gong Li, who is not related to Jet Li, became a Singapore citizen last year.

- AFP/il

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

By 938 LIVE | Posted: 08 June 2009 1740 hrs

Cartons of contraband cigarettes

SINGAPORE: Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers have arrested a Malaysian man for trying to smuggle contraband cigarettes into Singapore at midnight last Wednesday.

Close to 1,000 cartons of cigarettes were found under the floorboard of a broken down Malaysia-registered bus. It was being towed by a Singapore-registered tow truck via the Woodlands Checkpoint.

ICA said potential customs duty and GST payable for the cigarettes amounted to more than S$76,000.

When questioned, the 31-year-old Malaysian claimed that he was a relief driver. He said another Malaysian by the name of "Louis" had instructed him to take some passengers from Jalan Skudai to Singapore.

After clearance at Woodlands Checkpoint, he was supposed to leave the bus at the mosque near the checkpoint and await further instructions.

The case was referred to Singapore Customs for further investigations.

Upon conviction by the court, first-time offenders can be fined up to 20 times the amount of duty evaded and are liable to a jail term of up to three years.

- CNA/so

From ChannelNewsAsia.com; see the source article here.

05/30/2009 | 08:56 PM

WASHINGTON – The US Army is investigating allegations that eight male soldiers took pictures and video of as many as 21 female soldiers in their unit as they showered.

The photos allegedly were taken late last year, before the 266th Military Police Company of the Virginia Army National Guard shipped out to Iraq in December.

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver said Friday the Army is conducting a criminal investigation. No charges have been filed.

Spokeswoman Carolee Nisbet at Fort Dix, New Jersey, says the allegations are disappointing because most soldiers who train there before deployment "live up to the Army values."

The 266th is serving in Basra.

A spokesman for the Virginia Guard did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment. – AP

From GMANews.tv; see the source article here.

Trust is an “important issue” — which is why the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) will not be allowed, for now, to teach its comprehensive sexuality programme in schools, said Education Minister Ng Eng Hen.

“For the programmes to be delivered effectively, parents and the Ministry of Education (MOE) must be able to trust that external agencies teach according to the framework and values of MOE’s sexuality education,” he said.

“We will not be able to use Aware until they have gained the public’s trust for their sexuality programmes.”

Moreover, if external agencies disagree with MOE’s approach, it would be “better not to participate in MOE’s programmes”; they should bring their views to the steering committee who would assess their arguments, said Dr Ng.

In response, Aware president Dana Lam said last night that the MOE’s move was “regrettable”, but “we recognise that the ministry has been under considerable pressure from some parents on the matter and we can understand why it has taken this action”.

In the two years the programme was run in schools, she noted, there was no negative feedback. The MOE had also earlier acknowledged that Aware’s programme “was accurate on information provided on STIs/HIV, and good in the segment which teaches students to say no to sex”, Ms Lam told Today.

Aware will continue its review of the programme, in consultation with parents, teachers and counsellors, and “at the appropriate time, we may offer it again to the Education Ministry”.

For now, Aware will focus on its other activities — namely research and advocacy, services such as its helpline and legal clinic, and public education such as reviving its forums at public libraries. ALICIA WONG

From TODAYOnline.com, News – Friday, 22-May-2009; see the source article here.

AWARE SAGA

Observers welcome DPM Wong’s comments, Govt’s restraint in the matter

Alicia Wong, alicia@mediacorp.com.sg

BEYOND being a case that reaffirmed the OB markers between politics and faith, what impressed some watchers was how civil society had jumped into action, when it seemed that religion was involved in the takeover of the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware).

And equally admirable was that the State held back from intervening for as long as it did. To protest the election of the New Guard to the executive committee, “civil society acted and threw them out”, said political scientist Bilveer Singh.

He was commenting on Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng’s remarks on the need to keep religion and politics separate — which observers found reassuring — and how the Government had been careful in its comments before the decisive May 2 EGM.

Other than proving the maturing of Singapore’s society, said Dr Singh, these events showed that “the State is beginning to have faith in civil society, something which they have been suspicious of all this while”. “And it shows our (citizens’) own OB markers — that religion is out-of-bounds,” he added.

Another academic was “glad the Government held back”. “If they had charged in ... it would have done neither the Old or New Guard any good and reduced the space for civil society,” added the don, who did not want to be named.

Did the previous Aware Exco, in the first place, cross the line by bringing religion into the fray?

Former Exco member Jenica Chua is adamant that they did not. She maintains that none of them had spoken on religion at the March 28 AGM, media reports of which had sparked off the whole controversy.

“The question that bears answering is, who put in the religious slant?” said Ms Chua, who spoke to Today in her personal capacity.

She felt Mr Wong “hit the nail on the head” when he said the media coverage was insufficiently balanced. The reports, she said, “polarised” the election as “that of a secular versus religious tussle”.

She also defended Church of our Sa viourpastor Derek Hong, who had rallied support for those in the Exco team who were part of his congregation; he later apologised for using the pulpit in this saga.

Ms Chua clarified that he had asked for support for them through this stressful time, when they were worried about death threats and job security. “He did not say, ‘go and join as members of Aware and vote for us’,” said Ms Chua.

Mr Wong warned against religious groups using the pulpit to mobilise followers to pressure the Government, as this would lead to trouble.

Netizens at Reach’s forum applauded Mr Wong’s views overall, and especially felt the media should have been more factual.

Dr Singh agreed the coverage was excessively negative against the New Guard, but judging by “coffeeshop talk”, it only reflected the majority view out there which was unsettled by the intrusion of religion into a secular organisation.

While religious undertones did “come across in the media”, said sociology professor Tan Ern Ser, “the key issue could easily be conveyed as one involving differences in values, even secular values”.

What he would take away from the Aware saga: When two value standpoints are diametrically different, compromise can be a “tall order” and robust debates may not always win an argument — “it may end up being decided by strength in numbers, volume and eloquence”.

From TODAY-Weekend, News – 16/17-May-2009

Zul Othman, zul@mediacorp.com.sg

THE daily coverage by selected media of the month-long leadership tussle at Aware was, in the words of Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng, “extensive” and “breathless”. However, he also found some of the coverage “excessive” and “not sufficiently balanced”.

In response to questions from Today regarding the coverage by selected media during the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) saga, Mr Wong said that although there were important issues to be addressed - such as the proper limits for religious activism - it was “surely not the most important challenge facing Singapore”.

“Whatever happened in Aware was not going to change Singapore or the Government’s social policy,” said Mr Wong, who is also the Home Affairs Minister.

Mr Wong said the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts had analysed the objectivity of the coverage of the Aware episode and “found it wanting in some respects”. Mica has given its feedback to the relevant editors.

Singapore Management University Assistant Professor Eugene Tan said that “it was possible” that some reporters “were caught up” in the month-long Aware drama that began on March 28 after a team of newcomers seized nine out 12 positions on its exco.

“Perhaps, it a natural reaction because of their (reporters’) own personal views. Still, this is when professionalism comes in - to separate personal views so one can report on the events objectively,” he said. These views, Asst Prof Tan said, led to reports that polarised public opinion.

Some felt that selected media had adopted a very liberal attitude and denounced the Old Guard exco’s strong views on homosexuality.

But gays and their supporters might have felt that “the papers did not come down hard enough on what was perceived as a religion coming into a secular space”, Asst Prof Tan added.

In his email interview with Today, Mr Wong warned against the importing of “culture wars between the extreme liberals and conservatives” common in countries, such as the United States.

To ensure that Singapore remains a “communally peaceful society”, there is a need to observe “the rules of engagement”, Mr Wong said. This also applies to the media - when reporting on the issues, journalists should do it “dispassionately and impartially”.

As for those who participate in the Internet, Mr Wong said: “Ultimately, he remains no less accountable for the consequences of his actions in cyberspace as he does in the physical world”.

From TODAY, News; Friday, 15-May-2009