Tag Archives: vivian balakrishnan

Having felt betrayed by the PAP, netizens are talking about deleting the TraceTogether App or abandoning their tokens.

The state media recently interviewed a lawyer who said people caught tampering with their devices are liable for jail under Singapore's wide array of laws.

It looks like the writer got a memo from the Government to give the poor Minister some credit. It's like they need that extra support so badly. And thats why SIngapore's mainstream media tanks on independence and true journalism

As I viewed the CNA debate last night, I really find it so hard to respect VB for the way he deliberately singled out CSJ as someone who patternly promulgates falsehood. That is such a mean blow below the belt.

The 158th media received complains from political candidates about last minute invitations to participate in political debates. Specifically, Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Bryan Lim Boon Heng criticised Mediacorp for sending an "eleventh hour" invitation. The Workers' Party (WP) may have also been given the same short lead time to make preparations for this Chinese debate. But instead of playing along to Mediacorp's games, WP decided not to attend this Chinese debate altogether. Perhaps WP was right to do a no-show as the Chinese debate turned out to be a farce. Fortunately for the opposition parties, their eloquence outshone the PAP during the English debate.

Government Technology Agency (GovTech) announced it had awarded a $6 million tender to a Singapore-based electronics maker PCI Pte Ltd to manufacture TraceTogether Tokens. The $6 million dollars will be used to supply an initial 300,000 dongles, worth about $20 each. The first batch of Token should be delivered in the second half of June 2020. If the PAP successfully pushes through with its plan to tag every Singaporean, PCI Limited stands to gain access to a business potentially worth more than $110 million once Tokens are made for all 5.7 million residents.

In a renewed attempt to implement this failed TraceTogether project, the government recently announced that Singaporeans will be issued with a wearable contact-tracing device. Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Vivian Balakrishnan tried to reassure that the device only uses Bluetooth technology to exchange proximity information between devices. He claims there is no GPS in the token and it will not track users' locations. Yet again this proposed token faced mounting concerns about privacy and surveillance. Among those voices was journalist Kirsten Han who came up with various questions about the token.

Boat captain Mr Shoo Chiau Huat has finally returned to Singapore after being detained in Indonesia for illegal fishing. He experienced jail, paying fines and "house arrest" before the court dismissed his illegal sailing charge in May. Altogether, he spent close to 1.5 years away from home and is happy to be reunited with his family once more.

Following the detention of the 2 Singaporean men in Abu Dhabi, UAE, for allegedly "crossdressing" and "behaving indecently", Singaporean netizens have turned up in force on social media to demand that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan work out a way to bring the 2 Singaporeans home.

Freelance fashion photographer Muhammad Fadli Bin Abdul Rahman, 26, and his friend, Nur Qistina Fitriah Ibrahim, 37, a transgender Singaporean who has not undergone a sex-change operation, were arrested in Abu Dhabi for wearing women's clothes.