The lower bonus paid out to civil servants are expected to resonate, with the private sector also possibly taking the same cue. No one is in the mood to spend big, if they do spend at all. And naturally, Singapore's own economy will be affected too, with the lower retails sales returns.

I am concerned that there have been 3 instances of Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) being invoked - all against articles critical of the government. My view is that POFMA was indeed passed ahead of a General Election which is looming. The Government has a track-record of enacting laws targeting online criticisms and ahead of elections for the last 10 years.

A chicken rice stall in Kovan have come under fire from customers for constantly overcharging customers for their chicken rice. To make things worse, the stall does not indicate the actual price of the chicken rice dish they serve, thus opening up the possibility of them charging any price they so wish at any different time of the day. One customer got so irate at being overcharged, she did a whole write up on the stall for overcharging her young daughter.

A longstanding practise certainly does not make this any right, as they did nothing but humiliate the student who by no choice of her own, got found out by the rest of her school mates that her family cannot afford to pay the 'minimal' school fees. If the MOE dare say that the amount was minimal compared to the amount given by the government to offset costs for Singaporeans, then why are they still hard up on chasing after that amount? MOE said that this was not about the money. So, what is it about then? To humiliate poor students who cannot afford to even pay a minimum sum?

However, it has since came to light that MOE is not the only education administrators who withhold certificates or results slips, just because a student faced real issues in paying their school fees. WP politician Yee Jenn Jong has also revealed that he handled a similar case a few years back, when he was helping out at an MPS in Aljunied. He stated that he was approached by a distressed student who feared that she would not be able to apply for third year courses since her school withheld the original results slip due to outstanding fees.