Singabloodypore

We've been living in Singapore now for two years, and have watched the rental market spiral out of control. We currently rent a condo apartment in Woodsvale, and the monthly payment is absolutely exorbitant. I am here as a P1 Employment Pass Holder.

We made the decision at the last renewal of our lease, that one more year is enough. Our plan is to apply for our permanent resident status over the next couple of months, which is academic as far as the approval. Once we have our PR and our current lease expires, we are eligible to purchase a resale HDB (Housing Board).

Initial calculations indicate that by going down this avenue, show that we can purchase quite a large flat in a relatively 'opulent' zone, and we will still reduce our monthly expenditure on housing by almost a half. Unbelievable!!

It seems like we are not the only people doing this. Interestingly enough, the latest reports from local property agencies show that almost one in five HDB flats sold recently went to PRs.

Housing experts attribute this to a combination of rising rents and low interests rates as the driver of this demand.

According to PropNex chief executive Mohamed Ismail, the number of apartments sold to permanent residents is a two-fold increase from a year ago, when PRs bought up 10 to 15 per cent of homes sold.

It will be interesting what will happen to the rental market over the next couple of years - personally, I HOPE IT SENDS MY CURRENT LANDLORD BROKE - GREEDY PEOPLE!!!

AUSSIE PETE

Chris Merritt | July 04, 2008

AFTER succeeding in his latest defamation action against opposition politicians, former Singapore prime minister Lee Kuan Yew has turned his attention to a visiting US lawyer who has criticised Mr Lee on the internet.

The latest target is California lawyer Gopalan Nair, a former Singapore citizen, who dared Mr Lee to take action over a critical posting on his internet blog.

Soon after the posting appeared, Mr Nair was arrested and held in solitary confinement for several days.

Although a US citizen since 2005, Mr Nair was in Singapore to observe Mr Lee's defamation action against Chee Soon Juan, who heads the opposition Singapore Democratic Party.

The final posting on his blog before his arrest.

Mr Nair was arrested on May 31 and, on June 2, he was charged with insulting Judge Belinda Ang, who was presiding at the Chee trial.

He was released on June 5 and charged on June 12 with insulting another judge over an incident that took place in 2006.

When he was in prison Mr Nair was kept in a cell that was illuminated around the clock.

He had no bedding and had to sleep on the ground.

Mr Nair's case is due to go to trial this month.

Dr Chee has been released from prison after serving 11 days for scandalising the court during his cross-examination of Mr Lee.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has issued a statement expressing its concern over Mr Nair's treatment.

"Singapore's detention of Gopalan Nair for public comments about such a highly politicised case is completely unwarranted," the committee's Asia program co-ordinator Bob Dietz said.

Catherine Lim: Humour, wit and satire as tools of the political critic

Catherine Lim: Humour, wit and satire as tools of the political critic from catherinelim.sg on Vimeo.
“Fireside Chat” at Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, on July 2nd, 2008.

Transcript confirms Yeong's dishonesty
Friday, 04 July 2008
Singapore Democrats

Mdm Yeong Yoon Ying
Press Secretary to Minister Mentor
Yeong_Yoon_Ying@mica.gov.sg

Dear Madam Yeong,

The court transcript which you produced after being pressed has confirmed your dishonesty.

You wrote in your letter to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ): "Having lost [the case], Dr. Chee in open court then called the Singapore leaders 'murderers, robbers, child molesters' and 'rapists.'"

You cleverly omitted the phrase that I had said to Mr Davinder Singh: "...you might as well throw it in..." (see below). By doing so you hide the fact that I was referring to Mr Singh's wild conclusions, and that since he was making all these allegations, he might as well throw in these terms.

This is a far cry from me saying that the Lees committed murder, robbery, rape and had molested children.

Your letter was not even a case of taking my words out of context, it was a wholesale twist of imputing to me something I was not saying. It is childish, unbecoming and a gross lack of intellectual decency.

In the audio-recording there was laughter in the courtroom after I told Mr Singh that he might as well throw in murderers, robbers, child molesters and rapists. (See below) You again omitted this portion in your letter to the WSJ to make it look like I have gone off the deep-end to call the Lees these names.

I also wrote in my letter to the WSJ: “Mdm Yeong also says that 'Singapore upholds free speech.' Yes, and Mr Mugabe has just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.” By the standard of your logic, you will no doubt say that I have claimed that the brutal Zimbabwean dictator is indeed a Nobel Peace Laureate.

Every time you make such wild claims, including your boss Mr Lee Kuan Yew calling me a psychopath, you degrade yourselves and the offices you hold.

On another matter, Mr Lee testified in court that the International Bar Association (IBA) president had sent a letter to the Law Society of Singapore (LSS) complimenting Singapore on its judiciary. The IBA denies sending the letter and the LSS confirms that it has not received such one.

Would you ask Mr Lee to produce the letter to refute the two organisations? This is important as it was part of the evidence that Mr Lee tendered in court under oath.

By the way you have still not answered why, as a civil servant, you are writing letters for the Minister Mentor when this is his personal matter and not a state one?

Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic Party

Note: Listen to the audio-clip here:
http://www.yoursdp.org/sound/murderers.mp3

Yeong Yoon Yin's letter to Today

Your report "Nothing to do with political freedom" (3 July 2008) refers to my letter to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and to Dr Chee Soon Juan's response published on his website.

In my letter to the WSJ, I said that in the recent defamation cases, Dr Chee had called Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew 'murderers, robbers, child molesters' and 'rapists' in open court.