Pro-ruling party fanpage, ‘Fabrications About the PAP,’ has drawn severe backlash over a distasteful post exposing a Workers’ Party (WP) supporter’s young child who allegedly raised his middle finger in a group photo capturing WP volunteers.
The fanpage has an axe to grind with non-ruling party politicians and their supporters simply due to their opposition to the People’s Action Party (PAP). On Tuesday (29 Oct), the the administrator of the fanpage, Jason Chua Chin Seng, uploaded an uncensored photo of the child on social media and said that the child was raising his middle finger.
He wrote: “#middlefinger was given. For the record, I tried to inform Pritam, but he had banned me ages ago. I cannot comment or send him messages.”
Upon closer inspection of the photo, many netizens felt that the young boy could be holding up the peace sign – with his raised index finger concealed behind his middle finger due to the angle of the photo – or could have been scratching his face at the moment the photo was taken.
Calling on the fanpage to take down the post, several netizens called Jason’s post “distasteful” and said that he stooped too low in using a child to attack the WP. Netizens also slammed Jason for harassing a child and pulling a child into politics:
This is not the first time the page has attacked the WP. In the past, Jason was accused of launching a series of fake news attacks against WP chief Pritam Singh:
A single mother wrote and shared a lengthy social media post alleging that her 3-year old son was abused by a teacher at his preschool.
She wrote that every three to four days, her son would come home with bruises and scratches. She also alleged that there was a fingernail mark embedded into her son’s year.
She wrote that her son attended Sunflower Preschool at Bedok Reservoir and was in the Nursery 1 class.
She wrote, “most recent is a bruise around the neck and has thick and deep traces. Within 1 week the mark is still not healed. The trace was like a rope and was pulled in the neck”.
The woman said that her son came home with a thick bruise around his neck, that looked to be like he was strangled with rope or cord. When she asked the boy’s teacher, she found out that he had two teachers, one male, and another who taught the children Mandarin.
While the teacher of the school tried to pass of the incident as an allergy, the woman said, “ I took my son to the doctor and checked on the day of the incident. , The doctor gave the report that my child was not allergic, but if being pulled by something like a rope or causing a mark around the neck”.
The doctor’s report
The doctor’s report stated that the boy had a “red lesion” on his neck. The report also added that it had a “lattice like pattern suggesting that it may be an imprint of an object on the neck”.
After contacting the Principal of the school, the woman wrote that the former checked the Closed-circuit television (CCTV) at the school and found out that it was the boy’s Chinese teacher who abused him.
The mother then wrote that since August 2, until October, she had not heard back from the boy’s school. Because of this, she made a police report, and according to the boy’s mother, the school’s principal told the police that the “CCTV that day was broken, CCTV that day (was) not ON”.
The woman called for help and for justice, especially because she wrote that her son now feared going to school and spoke of being strangled by his teachers.
Her full post:
TISG has reached out to Sunflower Preschool at Bedok Reservoir as well as the boy’s mother for comment and clarification on the incident. /TISG
Singapore — In the wake of the recent story that went viral concerning the mistreatment of a security guard by a foreign worker from global investment company JP Morgan, discussions about CECA, the 2005 trade agreement between Singapore and India, have naturally come up.
First of all, what is CECA? And how did it come about?
In a nutshell, CECA, or the India-Singapore Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, is a free-trade pact between the two countries, which was carried out for the purpose of strengthening bilateral trade.
A Declaration of Intent for the CECA was signed in 2003, followed by 13 formal rounds of negotiations over the next two years. The team from India was led by two successive secretaries of their Department of Commerce. Singapore’s side was led by Heng Swee Keat, who was then the Permanent Secretary for Trade and Industry as well as the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and who is now Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
The CECA was signed on June 29, 2005, during a state visit of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to India. It took effect on August 1 of that year.
Why is the CECA between Singapore and India so important?
This agreement covers the bilateral trade in goods, trade in services, investment protections, and other features. Mutual Recognition Agreements under the CECA serve to eliminate duplicate product testing and certification in certain sectors. The CECA’s cooperation chapters encourage and familiar bilateral cooperation. And under the CECA, a review of the Avoidance of Double Taxation between Singapore and India was covered as well. It also made a way for easy access and collaboration between the two countries’ financial institutions.
The agreement was considered to be a landmark since it was India’s first such CECA, as well as the first comprehensive economic agreement between Singapore and a country in South Asia.
At the time of negotiations for the India-Singapore CECA, India was quickly rising to become one of Singapore’s biggest trade partners. In the 10 years leading to the signing of the agreement, bilateral trade had almost tripled to S$11.8 billion. And during the negotiations itself, trade grew by leaps and bounds again, increasing by almost half. At that point, India became Singapore’s fastest-growing trading partner among all the major economies.
By 2017, bilateral trade had reached a total of S$25.2 billion, with India becoming Singapore’s largest trading partner in South Asia, and Singapore becoming India’s second-largest trading partner within the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN).
What else does the CECA affect?
Contrary to popular belief, the India-Singapore CECA does not only affect trade, but the bilateral cooperation also relates to science and technology, education, aviation, and intellectual property.
What’s the connection between the CECA and the JP Morgan employee who shouted at a security guard at the Whampoa condominium?
Under the CECA, visa regulations for Indian professionals in medicine, engineering, finance and information technology were relaxed, making it easier for them to work and immigrate to Singapore.
Does this mean that Indian nationals working in certain sectors can come and go as they please?
In a word, no.
In response to rumors that the CECA allows Indian citizens to work in Singapore without obtaining a valid work pass, the government replied that Indian nationals including intra-corporate transferees (“ICTs”),still need to meet work pass qualifying criteria before they’re allowed to work in the country.
Since 2005, the India-Singapore CECA has been reviewed three times, with two of the reviews carried out last year. On June 1, 2018, the second review was signed in the presence of PM Lee and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with no changes to the chapter in the agreement concerning the movement of people.
The third review was launched on September 1, 2018, by Minister-in-Charge of Trade Relations S. Iswaran and India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu, which focused on trade facilitation, e-commerce, and customs. -/TISG
In a meeting with the security guard he abused, Eight Riversuites resident Ramesh Erramalli has apologized for his behaviour ‘many times’, the Association of Certified Security Agencies (ACSA) said in a Facebook post on Wednesday (October 30).
The resident issued the apology during an hour-long meeting on Wednesday evening with the officer, senior security supervisor (SSS) Steven Heng Woo Wee.
Erramalli’s dispute with his condominium’s security guard was over a rule by the condominium’s management, which imposed a S$10 fee for visitors who park their cars there after 11pm. His guests had come over at about 10.30pm for Deepavali festivities.
The video shows the security officer asking what time the visitor would leave, followed by the resident questioning if guests could not visit him after 11pm on Deepavali.
“I bought your f***ing property for S$1.5 million, you know? This is S$1.5 million, okay?” says Ramesh.
After the security officer tells him he would let the management know of the situation, the resident replies: “Tell the management to f*** off.”
However, at the meeting, ACSA’s honorary secretary Gary Haris, and Mr Raj Joshua Thomas, president of the Security Association of Singapore (SAS), who were both present, said that Erramalli was “very remorseful”.
Earlier This Evening Myself and President SAS Mr Raj Joshua Thomas met Mr Ramesh Erramalli together with Senior Security…
During the meeting, Haris noted that Ramesh “addressed SSS Steven as Uncle Steven and said he has known Uncle Steven quite well as he has had conversations with SSS Steven before when he was patrolling the estate”.
He added that, “Ramesh Acknowledged SSS Steven was a very humble and good Security Supervisor and he did not mean to Hurt Or harm him in any way. He was worked up over the MCST Rule of collecting $10 parking fees for the overnight parking”.
The security guard, “SSS Steven also acknowledged that Mr Ramesh was a friendly and approachable resident and always addressed him as uncle Steven. He had forgiven Mr Ramesh wholeheartedly and thanked him for coming personally to apologise to him. SSS Steven also urges everyone to forgive Mr Ramesh and forget this unfortunate incident”.
SSS Steven seemed to have buried the hatchet and said, “I also wish everyone will forgive Mr Ramesh and forget this incident. Let’s all play a part to respect all the Security Personnel working round the clock to keep our estates, neighbourhood,offices, Hospitals, schools and Singapore to be a safe and Secure place for all of us”. /TISG
Kylie Jenner nailed Halloween 2019 by recreating her Met Gala look on her baby daughter Stormi Webster.
The 22-year-old reality star and entrepreneur shared adorable photos and videos of her one and a half year old.
Stormi was dressed in a floor-length gown which is the exact copy to the Versace gown he mother wore for this year’s Met Gala.
Photo: Screengrab from YouTube
The photos and videos were uploaded to Kylie Jenner’s official Instagram account which boasts a staggering 149 million followers.
Stormi’s twin outfit has the same feathered sleeves, lace and mesh body accompanied by a glittery handbag.
It is not confirmed if Stormi’s outfit was made by Versace as her mother’s was but we would not be surprised if it was.
To complete the look, Jenner added a long, grey-lilac wig to Stormi to match her mother’s hair at the Met Gala.
Her followers were big fans of the look, based on the comments below.
“Omg…. She is so adorable,” wrote one user.
“Kylie I can’t deal with this shes your twin,” [sic] commented another.
“Bet she wanted to be a princess,” another person joked.
Photo: Screengrab from Instagram
For Jenner’s own Halloween costume, she kept it simple in a black leather pencil dress by designer Christian Cowan, featuring a thigh high slit and vampy black heels.
Jenner posed in a shower with the white square tiles reminiscent of Albert Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’ films.
This year, for celebrity Halloween costumes, there is Ashley Graham’s ‘knocked up’ Jessica Rabbit look in skintight latex and Elizabeth Hurley’s ‘Kill Bill’ jumpsuit.
Born Kylie Kristen Jenner on 10 August 1997, Jenner is a reality star, model, entrepreneur and socialite.
She gained prominence after appearing in E! reality TV series Keeping Up with the Kardashians since 2007 together with her family.
Jenner also founded a cosmetic company, Kylie Cosmetics.
When she was 14 in 2012, Jenner and her sister Kendall collaborated with the clothing brand PacSun to create a line of clothing called ‘Kendall & Kylie.’
Jenner launched her cosmetics line called Kylie Lip Kits in 2015 which was renamed Kylie Cosmetics the following year.
The model also released a mobile app that reached number one of the iTunes App Store.
Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad attends a press conference in Tokyo on May 30, 2019. - Malaysia will continue using Huawei products "as much as possible," bucking a global trend prompted by security concerns and a US ban on the Chinese firm, the country's prime minister said on May 30 at a conference in Tokyo. (Photo by Behrouz MEHRI / AFP)
In a sarcastic blog entry, Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he helped tycoons in the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis to prevent the country from going bust.
But he also apologised for helping these tycoons, in retaliation to jibes against those accusing him of helping tycoons amass wealth under the Pakatan Harapan government.
Dr Mahathir did not say why he posted the blog defending his actions in the financial crisis and helping the rich in the process.
But in early October, a PKR founder Syed Husin accused Dr Mahathir of reverting to his old brand of authoritarianism and sounded a warning that Malaysia could be on the road towards “kleptocratic cronyism”.
The veteran politician also accused the prime minister of favouring his children as well as Daim Zainuddin and tycoon Syed Mokhtar Albukhary in business deals.
Defending his policies that some say solved the financial crisis, Dr Mahathir wrote, “If we had wanted to, we could have chased away all the tycoons. We would not have helped them. We would have let them go bankrupt. We only helped those who were not (categorised) as tycoons.”
“Yes, the way we (the government at the time) resolved the financial crisis (was by way of) helping the (business) tycoons in Malaysia.
“We could have chosen not to offer help and let them and their businesses suffer losses, fail and wound up.”
Later on, he wrote, sarcastically, “I apologise as my actions to overcome the 1997-1998 financial crisis benefitted the tycoons.”
“I admit I was involved in the creation of the measures to overcome the financial crisis in 1997-1998. Yes, certainly our method to resolve the crisis has helped tycoons in Malaysia.”
Dr Mahathir came under attack from various personalities in the Pakatan Harapan coalition, including Ronnie Liu, an assemblyman and DAP central executive committee member, who criticised the elderly statesman for failing to fulfil the 2018 General Election manifesto and for ‘dragging Pakatan onto the same path as the former Barisan Nasional regime.”
More MPs and political leaders in the government coalition attacked Dr Mahathir for allowing the Education Ministry to impose Islamic calligraphy in vernacular schools.
Others have criticised the PM for officiating at an only-Malay-congress that was organised without the PM-to-be Anwar Ibrahim.
Nevertheless, Syed Husin alleged there was evidence that enormous wealth was being accumulated by Dr Mahathir’s children and cronies, in an interview with Malaysiakini.
“Many companies and projects have been handed to his cronies, especially (Council of Eminent Persons chairman) Daim Zainuddin, (business tycoon) Syed Mokhtar Albukhary as well as his children,” he said, warning that power could be addictive, especially when it allowed a person to enrich himself, his family and friends.
“We have had kleptocracy. Are we now going to develop into kleptocratic cronyism? I hope not,” he said. -/TISG
Singapore—The country added another first on its records earlier this month, upon banning advertisements that feature and promote beverages that are high in sugar, as well as requiring sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) to carry color-coded nutrition labels, the first country to ever do so in history.
This move, announced by Senior Minister of State for Law and Health, Edwin Tong, at the Singapore Health and Biomedical Congress on October 10, was made in order to fight the incidence of obesity and diabetes in Singapore, which has been steadily and alarmingly on the rise.
In South East Asia, there are around 96 million individuals suffering from diabetes. And Singapore itself has seen an increase in the incidence of obesity of almost 25 percent between the years of 2010 and 2014.
With this growth rate in health issues, a corresponding rise in the cost of health care is also expected, which could lead to a health crisis, especially when Singapore’s ageing population is added to the equation.
But how effective will these strategies be in the reduction of the consumption of sugary drinks? At present, Singaporeans consume an average of 12 teaspoons of sugar every day, which is around 60 g. Over half of Singaporeans’ sugar consumption is from high-sugar drinks.
Natasha Vass, writing for Asia Media International, believes that the total ban on advertising sugary drinks may be more effective than the labels, which some conveniently ignore.
She cites the precedent of advertisements for cigarettes, which are also banned in Singapore, where there is a 28 percent male smoking prevalence. In Indonesia, where there is no such ban, the male smoking prevalence is at 76.2 percent.
When it comes to warning labels, despite graphic warnings regarding health risks on cigarette packs in Indonesia, the prevalence of smokers has remained consistently high. Alarmingly, among children ages 13 to 15, Indonesia has a smoking prevalence rate of nearly twenty percent, meaning almost one in every five teenagers in that age bracket is a smoker, despite the warnings on labels.
Ms Vass adds, “This is likely a result of Indonesia’s mesmerizing cigarette commercials featuring joyful consumers,” further lending credence to the possibility of the effectiveness of a total ad ban.
However, Hannah Chang, an associate professor of marketing at the Singapore Management University’s Lee Kong Chian School of Business, told marketing news outfit The Drum that with people who are looking to make healthier beverage choices, the labels on drinks may be effective.
“There is evidence that clear labelling on drinks and beverages help consumers choose more wisely; this is effective particularly among those consumers who do care about having a healthier diet,” she said.
But the head of strategy at M&C Saatchi Singapore, Ramesh Kumar, told The Drum that if someone is determined to purchase and consume a sugary drink, no label would prevent from doing so.
At any rate, marketers agree that the ban will force manufacturers to re-formulate their goods in a healthier direction, which have been the trend with soft drink giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo over the last few years anyway, with boosts to beverage items with less or no sugar.
Ms Chang added, “It makes the companies less dependent on the sales of drinks with very high sugar content, and reduce the potential impact of a total ban on ads of drinks with high sugar content on the company’s overall sales in the longer term.”
According to the managing partner of Happy Marketer, Prantik Mazumdar, this is necessary for manufacturers’ long-term survival.
“Whilst FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) brands may experiment with various short term tactical experiments to circumvent these strong regulations, it is in their interest to either evolve the current products into much healthier versions or invest in other healthier food & beverage categories to sustain growth,” he said./ TISG
Social activist Gilbert Goh has organized an open mic event at Hong Lim Park for Singaporeans to share their views against the India – Singapore
Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), and to a controversial white paper released by the government of Singapore in January 2013 that projects Singapore’s population as 6.9 million by the year 2030.
Gilbert called “for ORDINARY Singaporeans to be heard – especially so if you are unemployed, under-employed or simply fed-up with the system here”.
He also wrote on a social media post that, “You may be well educated or lowly educated and feel that the country has failed you – SPEAK UP! Don’t keep it all inside you…”
The event’s NParks speaker’s corner permit was being secured at the time of writing.
The event was partly spurred on by Ramesh Erramalli, a man who was filmed abusing the security guard at his condominium.
Erramalli’s dispute with his condominium’s security guard was over a rule by the condominium’s management, which imposed a S$10 fee for visitors who park their cars there after 11pm. His guests had come over at about 10.30pm for Deepavali festivities.
The video shows the security officer asking what time the visitor would leave, followed by the resident questioning if guests could not visit him after 11pm on Deepavali.
“I bought your f***ing property for S$1.5 million, you know? This is S$1.5 million, okay?” says Ramesh.
After the security officer tells him he would let the management know of the situation, the resident replies: “Tell the management to f*** off.”
The incident with Ramesh sparked a huge public outcry and outrage against Indian nationals working in Singapore. There was also a call for Ramesh to be sacked from private investment bank JP Morgan.
The CECA covers tariff reduction/elimination for 82% of Singapore’s exports to India. It also allows the free movement of professionals in 127 sectors to enter and work in Singapore.
Gilbert’s open mic event will also highlight Singapore’s Population White Paper.
Mrs Josephine Teo, who is in charge of population matters in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), said on March 1, 2018, that Singapore is not expected to change its immigration policy, and its population is likely to be “significantly below” 6.9 million by 2030.
She also added that because of Singapore’s falling birth rate and slow population growth, the current rate of immigration allows Singapore to achieve close to the same effect as if Singaporeans had a full-replacement Total Fertility Rate of 2.1.
The number of Singaporeans aged 20 to 64 is projected to peak at 2.2 million around 2020 and will decline after that, even with immigrants. “Without immigration, it would have started to shrink earlier and decline at a much faster rate,” she said.
Any individual who wishes to speak during Gilbert’s event can write to him directly at [email protected] /TISG
Channel 5 actress Jade Rasif appears to have more sympathy for the JP Morgan employee who was seen berating a security guard with vulgarities than most others. In a Facebook comment, she emphatically agreed with the administrator of SMRT Feedback by the Vigilanteh that the senior JP Morgan staff is just like other Singaporeans.
On Friday night (25 Oct), a video of a man verbally abusing a hapless security officer went viral on social media. In the incident, which reportedly took place at the Eight Riversuites condominium in Bendemeer, the man hurled vulgarities at the elderly guard after being told that guests visiting his condominium unit needed to pay parking fees.
Despite the security guards’ explanation that they are simply enforcing the rules, the condo resident continued to berate the workers. In his expletive-ridden rant, the man bragged to the security officers that he bought his condominium unit for S$1.5 million. He exclaimed: “I buy your f****** property for S$1.5 million you know.”
Netizens subsequently identified the condo resident as Ramesh Erramalli, a foreign talent from India who works at global financial services company J.P. Morgan in Singapore and is now a naturalised Singapore citizen.
While Ramesh’s behaviour drew swift and severe backlash online, the administrator of the SMRT Feedback by The Vigilanteh Facebook group has a different take and compared his behaviour to that of other Singaporeans. In a post published yesterday (29 Oct), he wrote:
“The ironic thing about the whole Ramesh-Condo incident is that when I see Ramesh, I see a Singaporean. He is the Singaporean who would use cleaners and Grab drivers as a barometer of success. He is the Singaporean who wouldn’t share a MRT seat with a Bangladeshi construction worker. He is the Singaporean who lives in a studio flat but insists on having six kids and then expecting the Government to support them with handouts.
“He is the Singaporean that thinks just because they paid $2.00 for an MRT ride, a 1-min delay is unacceptable. He is the Singaporean who thinks that just because they pay tax, any public officers should be at their beck and call. He is the Singaporean who would look down on Malaysia because of their currency. He is a manifestation. He is you.”
The administrator of SMRT Feedback drew criticism for making unfair, sweeping generalisations about Singaporeans. Jade Rasif, though, expressed her support for the Facebook page manager’s view.
Jade Rasif is a Singaporean DJ who may be known to most for playing a role in Channel 5’s primetime soap opera ‘Tanglin’. In a comment on the SMRT Feedback Facebook post, Jade wrote “Exactly”with an emoji of two hands clapping.
While 41 others liked Jade’s comment, her agreement with SMRT Feedback drew flak from others. Replying to Jade’s comment, Facebook user Esther Tan wrote: “I have to respectfully disagree that this is quite the opposite of “exactly”. He is nothing like us and we are nothing like him. He adopted this country because it suited him. He joined when we are already an economic success.
“The majority of us including our parents / grandparents brought this country from its roots, grew our careers and families here and went though each and every development and policy change. We complain because we know things can be better or were better before, like when services deteriorate and costs increase without clear justifications or for the sake of pure profiteering.
“We give citizenship out by the thousands but we can never buy a person’s true loyalty.”
Incensed by Esther Tan’s comment, Jade responded: “How dare you. So much of our country was built on the backs of immigrants. My mom is an immigrant, would you dare to tell her to her face that she is nothing like us?”
Pointing out that Jade missed her point, Esther Tan said: “Jade Rasif you are not Greta Thunberg, no need for the “how dare you”. In the first place you have completely missed the point. Please go tell your mom that her nation building efforts of yesteryears is the same as these new citizens who come here because it is economically viable to do so. Don’t forget to film this and post video, ya.”
This is not the only instance where Jade has expressed sympathy for the JP Morgan employee. Sharing an old video from last year, in which a Singaporean was caught verbally abusing a security guard, Jade implied that the hate against Ramesh could be due to his race. She wrote:
“Where are all the “send him back to china” comments. No petition to get him fired? No doxxing? Then why so much vitriol directed to Ramesh? Or does the internet horde only care when an Indian guy starts yelling at a Chinese security guard”
In the criminal trial of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Abdul Razak involving the alleged abuse of power and money laundering of 1MDB funds, defence lead counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah likened fugitive financier Jho Low to a fox taking care of a chicken.
The lawyer made the reference to the fox and chicken situation during the cross-examination of former 1MDB CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.
Shahrol testified he went back and fourth between then 1MDB board of advisors chairperson Najib, Jho Low, and the sovereign wealth fund’s board of directors.
At a meeting with Najib as the 1MDB board of advisor chairperson on Oct 16, 2009, Shahrol went to meet Jho Low, then obtained purported minutes of the Shahrol-Najib meeting to go back to the 1MDB board of directors.
Shafee then said that it was akin “to asking a fox to take care of a chicken.”
Najib Abdul Razak’s RM2.28 billion 1MDB trial entered its 26th-day yesterday at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.
On the other hand, the court was told that US$700 million which 1MDB was supposed to pay as its share of a US$1 billion joint-venture with Petrosaudi was deposited into Jho Low’s company Good Star.
Shahrol claims at the time the money was transferred in 2009, he did not know that Good Star was owned by Low. He claims he only knew Jho Low was the owner of Good Star when he read the information in media reports.
He says the money was transferred into RBS Coutts Bank account number 11116073 (Good Star account).
That was because Petrosaudi informed 1MDB the account belonged to a Petrosaudi affiliate.
Financier Jho Low is being sought by Malaysian police. The police said they believe Jho Low is still hiding in China and the Chinese police could not find him despite a red corner notice issued by Interpol. -/TISG
