Pioneer Generation Package - The Pioneers

 Feb 22, 2014
Just who are those pioneers, anyway?

The grandparents and parents of today's young folk are to get a Budget windfall - the Pioneer Generation Package. Insight looks at the people whose grit helped make Singapore great.


By Goh Chin Lian And Maryam Mokhtar

AT 16, Danny Wong had already lost his dad, survived a war and worked in three different jobs. The year was 1947.

Today's teenagers and their parents would find this almost unimaginable, but that was the reality for their grandparents.

Mr Wong's generation - Singaporeans born before 1950 who became citizens before 1987 - received a fillip when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last Sunday announced the Pioneer Generation Package.

Statistics show this generation did not have the same educational and job opportunities as those who came later, and so have some grounds for concern about what is meant to be their golden years.

Uniquely Singapore way to fund needs

Feb 27, 2014
PIONEER GENERATION FUND


By Chia Ngee Choon, For The Straits Times

BUDGET 2014 is elder-centric and, in particular, pioneer-centric. It sends a clear assurance to Singapore's pioneering generation that, having made significant contributions to Singapore when it was a Third World country, they can now retire with health-care security in a First World nation.

The Budget, announced last Friday, has set aside a whopping $8 billion in a Pioneer Generation Fund to finance health-care costs. This is the largest one-time capital injection to a single fund, and exceeds expectations in terms of its initial start-up capital and its comprehensiveness and inclusivity.

Malaysia, Singapore grapple with prolonged dry spell

Feb 26, 2014


SINGAPORE/KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS) - Singapore and Malaysia are grappling with some of the driest weather they have ever seen, forcing the tiny city-state to ramp up supplies of recycled water while its neighbour rations reserves amid disruptions to farming and fisheries.

Singapore, which experiences tropical downpours on most days, suffered its longest dry spell on record between Jan 13 and Feb 8 and has had little rain since.

Shares in Hyflux Ltd, which operates desalination and water recycling operations there, have risen 3.5 per cent over the past month.

In peninsular Malaysia, 15 areas have not had rainfall in more than 20 days, with some of them dry for more than a month, according to the Malaysian Meteorological Department.

Doing justice by fixing broken young lives

Feb 23, 2014

A stint at the Juvenile Court proves sobering, humbling for this former district judge

By Lim Hui Min


I was posted to the Family and Juvenile Court as a young magistrate, more than 10 years ago. During this time, I used to cover the Juvenile Court now and again, when the regular Juvenile Court magistrate was on leave or engaged in other official duties.

This was something new for me. Juvenile law was not something I had studied in law school, and I did not handle any Juvenile Court cases when I was in private practice. Most lawyers would not have done a Juvenile Court case, as legal counsel are engaged to represent the child or his parents in relatively few of such cases.

Covering the Juvenile Court was a sobering and humbling experience.

Playing ‘good neighbour’ to ASEAN would help China more

TODAY

By Christopher Hill

February 25, 2014

Not long ago, China was a soft-power juggernaut. Media accounts highlighted Chinese leaders’ thoughtful forays abroad, depicting policy-makers that were respectful of others’ opinions, willing to listen, humble to a fault, and reluctant to dispense unsolicited advice. Here was a country that was content to allow its own example of success to speak for itself.

Those days are over. Today, China, like many large countries, is allowing its internal political battles to shape how it interacts with the world, especially with neighbours whose sensitivities it seems entirely willing to ignore. (Indeed, with alarm bells sounding throughout the region, the United States’ “pivot to Asia,” widely derided for its clumsy rollout and unintended consequences, now seems wise and prudent.)

What Indonesia's Rise means for Australia

Northern Exposure
From: The Monthly - Australian Politics, Society, and Culture.

Hugh White
June, 2013


Large and close but poor and weak, Indonesia holds a shadowy place in Australia’s world view. We have never known quite what to make of it, or how seriously to take it. Soon there will be no option but to take it very seriously indeed, because Indonesia is changing fast. In the Asian century, it may matter to Australia as much as China and the US. It may even become our most important ally.

Reliability of MRT key to having fewer cars on roads

Feb 13, 2014

By Christopher Tan Senior Transport Correspondent


AT A recent Chinese New Year lunch, a senior civil servant suggested that I write an article on why Singaporeans should give up their aspiration to own a car.

Half-jokingly, I said I would - provided there was no major MRT incident for six months in a row. By "major", I meant incidents that disrupt service for more than 30 minutes each.

The condition is fair and, in fact, is one I think train operators SMRT and SBS Transit should aim for.

While it is unreasonable to expect machines to operate without a single glitch, it is reasonable to expect major incidents to be kept to a minimum. After all, rail systems are inherently robust and durable. And a system that is as new, short and costly as ours should have fewer breakdowns.

For instance, breakdowns on the 125-year-old, 340km, 24-hour New York City subway average one every 260,000km operated.

Singapore's 25-year-old, 180km network breaks down once every 120,000km.