Tag Archives: asean

The ever present choice for all S’poreans as we navigate choppy waters ahead boils down to these 2: “ a false sense of peace and prosperity while surrendering all autonomy i.e. blind adherence to the PAP or rising up and building a healthy, alternative Parliament not dominated by only 2 parties

NUS professor and veteran architect Tay Kheng Soon believes Singapore needs to have a new vision beyond the defunct Lee Kuan Yew vision of a "Global City." Noticing how the Covid19 pandemic has wrecked the global economy, Tay Kheng Soon says it shows the vulnerabilities and outdatedness of LKY's vision. The world has changed since Singapore achieved its status as a Global City.

In the recent India - ASEAN summit over the weekend that took place in Bangkok, PM Lee met with his counterpart, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and declared that both ASEAN and India should redouble their efforts to improve economic integration.

In yet another series of embarrassing results, Singapore’s Under-18 footballers lost 3-1 to Timor Leste’s U18s at the on-going ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) U18 Championships on yesterday. Timor Leste was not even an independent country when Singapore's S-League was born. The supposed superior professional league, that was formed so that Singapore have a bigger pool of professional footballers who are supposed to dominate the region in the years after the formation of the S-League. What a joke!

While the ASEAN is important for continued success of ASEAN nations, do you think it has brought about tangible benefits to the people? Why is Singapore still ranked poorly in many aspects such as press freedom, gini inequality, and employee engagement?

Here’s what continues to baffle me – the logic of capping Singaporean graduates at say 30 per cent because there may not be enough jobs – and then having about 35 per cent of the total student enrolment in our public universities for non-Singaporeans. To top it off – most of the foreign students are required to stay and work after their graduation for at least three years. So, they may compete with Singaporeans for jobs, when the primary reason for capping Singaporean graduates is limited jobs for them in the first place? Does this make sense to you?

He was obviously referring to China. He even said that no one can control the agenda of the superpower. He is very right in that count. No one can control China, least of all a Minister well known in Singapore for not being able to control the Youth Olympic budget. Now he target China in his speech, although in the capacity of an ASEAN Ministerial meeting. The last time a Singapore Minister, Prime Minister no less, said something challenging China's authority, our Terrexes were impounded. Big mouth Minister Vivian had opened his mouth, what next will be impounded now.

Adherence to the rule of law has been the fundamental basis for peace and stability for the last half century in Asia and indeed the world. It enables countries, both large and small, to build trust and confidence in one another, cooperate and prosper together. Under ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Co-operation, signatories pledge “to promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law”.

Seng is a tiny mixed blood boy (74% Chinese, 13% Malay, 10% Indian and 3% others). By a large margin, he is the smallest kid in the playground where there were many kids who are much bigger than him.

Because of ASEAN charter of non-interference in member states' domestic affairs, I doubt there is very much our leaders can do or say in their official capacity. But the ordinary citizens and NGOs can stage a protest at strategic locations where she and her entourage has to pass.