So, why did PAP decide to save Pritam and amended the constitution, raising the minimum fine that would lead to mandatory disqualification from parliament to $10,000 instead of earlier $2000? Wouldn't it be better to leave it as it was, to increase the chances of him losing
Remember the uproar when POFMA was introduced in 2019? The government was assaulting the freedom of expression! The law would be used to silence its critics! How do ministers dare to decide what the truth is! Fast forward 5 years and even the local opposition respects the law so much
Let's start by answering: not likely, at least not under Section 6 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. He may, however lose on some counts, as Singapore's ex-minister is also facing charges under Section 165 of the Penal Code. The former is more serious and carries
God, it's easy to be a left-winger. So, yesterday, WP's parliamentarians Sylvia Lim and Jamus Lim presented their ideas on how to combat scams, protect their victims and who should bear the losses when they occur. And, as ever, you just have to admire the "
Could insurance be a solution to scams? Workers' Party MP, Jamus Lim suggested that as an extension of his idea to burden businesses with the bulk of the cost of the crime. I'm quite surprised that as a trained economist he doesn't understand that it
Here's the most interesting part of an exchange I had with Jamus Lim yesterday, under the post about what basic needs in Singapore mean - and whether they should include things like perfume or mobile phone plans. In case you're not in the loop: a bunch
The best thing about Singapore's PE isn't Tharman's victory - I think we all expected that - but a relatively weak result of Tan Kin Lian. TKL was an incredibly useful candidate, as his presence gave us an opportunity (as I quipped ahead of
Let's talk about presidential independence – not only in Singapore but in other countries with similar parliamentary systems of governance, where president is typically a ceremonial head of state but has only limited powers and, at most, acts as a safety valve in certain areas. Here's a
It's funny how clearly you can see through Lee Hsien Yang's narrative. It's so clumsy only the most gullible can fall for it. So, at first he claimed the Ridout Rd. rentals were a scandal (for some reason) but following POFMA and a threat
I have to say that out of all people trying to crack Singapore's political stability, the character I find by far the most despicable is Lee Hsien Yang. Yes, of course, there are populists out there, crazy activists, failed artists and the rest of the hippies who think
It's also quite likely harmful to the nation AND has little to do with morality. Allow me to explain. If you want to have qualified people running the country they should be dedicated to it. This is especially true in Singapore, where government cadres typically spend decades going
Have you noticed how different the handling of every internal crisis is between PAP and opposition? Both among leaders and supporters. You can look at AHTC or RaeesahGate, or even what these people say and write about public policy (like Louis Chua, Jamus or Leon Perera on HDB), not to
