In the wake of the recent riot in Little India, one of the observations that struck me was how relatively little public discussion we see in the mainstream media about the issues of crime and punishment. When riots rocked London in August 2011, journalists and politicians got on their soapboxes and spent the following weeks denouncing the crimes and speculating on the underlying causes, as expected, but also engaged in debates about the fairness of punishments meted out, including questioning the use of excessive police force, etc.

This is, however, not the first time public hospitals face a shortage of hospital beds for their patients. In 2010, similar reports have surfaced. Mr Khaw Boon Wan, the Health Minister then, said Singapore will never be caught in such predicament again. Mr Khaw once described that the opening of Jurong General Hospital (even with the closing down of Alexandra Hospital) would bring in an additional 400 beds to the local hospitals in 2014.

The more you think about it, the more it appears that Aljunied GRC is presenting the PAP with one big headache. The GRC system seemed like such a foolproof way for the PAP to secure its dominance. Who would have thought that it would end up haunting it, with that one loss opening up a can of worms? As we inch ever closer to the next General Election, which could well be next year, Singapore’s 50th year of independence, the PAP needs to have its strategy in place real soon.

The latest announcement by the Land Transport Authority to penalise and reward public transport operators (PTOs) based on the frequency of delays in buses might have raised a few eyebrows. If not, it really should. Indeed, those who have read the comments in the first report by TODAY would have noted the negative reactions among readers. Clearly, this has not gone down well with the average Singaporean. It is interesting to note that the second report on the issue, by the same author, carried a very different headline – see image above. Perhaps there was a realisation, even by TODAY, of what this penalty-reward scheme really is about?