SG: SIF News #163, 30 May - 2 June 94 (fwd)
Kent Mulliner
Date: 06-Jun-1994 08:56am EST
To: Southeast Asia Listers ( _MX%"SEAS...@MSU.EDU" )
From: Kent Mulliner Dept: Library
MULLINER Tel No: 614-593-2707
Subject: SG: SIF News #163, 30 May - 2 June 94 (fwd)
SINGAPORE DAZE
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A twice weekly news letter featuring Singapore news snippets from
Singapore publications. Issue #163 30 May - 2 Jun 1994.
News Items
1. MOE to introduce sophisticated computer systems
2. Bigger health warning labels on tobacco products
3. Chee Soon Juan served with a bankruptcy petition
4. Divorcing couples now fight harder for share of HDB flat
5. More Singapore poetry plaques in public and on cards
6. 5 S'pore corporations are keen on expanding in Phillipines
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1. > MOE to introduce sophisticated computer systems <
ST, 31 May - Learning in Singapore's classrooms will be
revolutionised once the Education Ministry introduces
sophisticated computer systems in secondary schools and junior
colleges, putting Singapore students on the information highway.
Education Minister Lee Yock Suan said students will tap
international databases and have their computers linked to one
another's machines and to school. In addition, computers will be
electronic personal assistants to teachers, providing them
immediate access to databases and helping them analyse students'
grades.
Mr Lee also added that the proposed project, known as the Student
and Teacher's Workbench, will be plugged into Internet, an
international network of more than 20,000 interconnected
computers in 137 countries worldwide. His announcement fits into
Singapore's larger plan of transforming itself in the next dacade
into an intelligent island where schools and homes will be linked
by computers.
Speaking to reporters, Mr Lee also stressed that school fees will
remain affordable in the computer-equipped schools and teachers
need not fear as they will be trained. As for the students, the
project will help open up minds:" They can even access to the
White House. They may not get a reply from President Bill
Clinton, but they will get a response," Mr Lee quipped.
2. > Bigger health warning labels on tobacco products <
ST, 31 May/ 1 Jun - New rules introducing stronger and more
conspicuous health warnings on tobacco product packets have taken
effect here in Singapore. Under these rules, one of four messages
warning that smoking kills, harms the family and causes heart
disease and cancer, must be displayed on the packets at any one
time. All tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, pipe
tobacco, rolled tobacco, cheroots and beedies are included under
the new rules.
The Smoking Regulations 1993 also specify details of how the
warnings should be displayed, such as the type of print to be
used and where the warning should be printed. Tar and nicotine
content should also be printed on cigarette packs.
Regular smokers faced with a tobacco "ban" at some shops for the
day simply shrugged their shoulders and went elsewhere for their
fix. Cigar smokers, however, will have to wait longer to buy
their cigars while shops send their stocks back to the suppliers
for new health warning labels. To support World No-Tobacco Day,
nine stores including Metro and Yaohan complied with a Ministry
of health request not to sell tobacco products for the day.
3. > Chee Soon Juan served with a bankruptcy petition <
ST, 31 May - Dr Chee Soon Juan, the Singapore Democratic Party's
acting secretary-general, has been served with a bankruptcy
petition issued by the High Court for failing to pay damages to
his former boss, Dr S.Vasoo who had won a dafamation suit against
him. The petition was served on Dr Chee after he failed to
respond to a bankruptcy notice asking him to pay the sum of
$210,000.
If Dr Chee, a neuropsychologist who is now practising from home,
is made a bankrupt and does not pay off his debts, he would,
under the Singapore Constitution, be disqualified from becoming
a Member of Parliament. Asked how he felt about the latest
action, Dr Chee said that he was surprised as he had already
informed Dr Vasoo that he would be selling his terrace house
estimated to be worth about $1.4 million, to raise funds.
" All I am telling them is to give me a few months. It is not
that they are starving and they need the money to buy groceries
or something," Dr Chee said. To a question on whether he had
other means to raise funds, Dr Chee replied that he did not,
adding that he was " kind of tight ". Asked if the proceeds from
his 156-page book," Dare to Change " launched last week might
help defray costs, Dr Chee said that he was still talking to
bookshops about selling it.
4. >Divorcing couples now fight harder over share of HDB flat<
ST, 2 Jun - Aspiring first-time homeowners are not the only ones
getting hot and bothered over soaring property prices. Divorcing
couples are feeling the heat too. Lawyers handling divorces say
that what could have been simple divorces wrapped up in about
three months, are now taking between six months and a year. The
reason: Couples are fighting more intensely for a share of their
HDB flat.
Whether it was a case of one party keeping the flat or the couple
selling the flat to share the net profit, both husband and wife
were now less willing to give in, the lawyer pointed out. Gone
was the sense of honour and gentlemanliness which prevailed in
the past:" No more for old times' sake, but it's 'I want to go
for every cent'. The rising prices have such an effect," lawyer
Anamah Tan lamented.
In recent years, HDB flat prices have gone sky high, with some
flats in choice estates like Bishan or Tampines being sold at
three or four times the original price. Ms Rose Kong, a lawyer
with eight years' practice, said:" Because of the price increase,
couples do fight a lot harder now. They will tell you that they
have painted the walls or that they paid for the kitchen
cabinets, so they get 5 per cent more of the property price?"
But not everyone is unhappy over this state of affirs. As one
lawyer admitted, such haggling meant more headache and more work,
but it also meant more fees. He said jokingly:" I am no
counsellor, although I always advise my clients to resolve
matters amicably. But sometimes I can't help but imagine them
tugging at the cow at different ends, while I am in the middle
milking it."
5. > More Singapore poetry plaques in public and on cards <
ST, 2 Jun - If the Merlion has become a landmark for Singapore,
the unveiling of a plaque of the poem Ulysses By The Merlion is
a landmark for Singapore verse. The plaque, unveiled by National
University of Singapore Pro-Chancellor Dr Maurice Baker, will
certainly increase poetry's profile in public life here.
The plaque could also mean the start of a series of other
Singapore poems put up at important places of interest such as
City Hall, Chinatown or Little India. Professor Edwin Thumboo
who composed the poem, said that the plaque had established not
so much "immortality" for his poem, but the practice of
installing poems at public places here. Asked to suggest other
candidates, he cited Lee Tzu Pheng's poem, Bukit Timah Singapore,
which he said could be put up at the foot of Bukit Timah Hill.
There is no lack of other poems that might be similarly honoured,
if one included the other three official languages.
By using the Ulysses myth as a reference point, Thumboo is
marshalling all the connotations and associations of an
archetypal and very human story, to add scope and significance
to his marvelling at this new image," wondrous of tail, touched
with power ". It is all the more remarkable that the Merlion myth
was man-made to promote tourism, as nearly everything on this
island is man-made.
The Merlion statue was installed formally in 1972, but it was
revealed only in November 1981 in the design of a half-lion,
half-fish creature based on an artwork by Mr Kwan Sai Kheong,
Singapore former ambassador to the Philippines. In the poem, Prof
Thumboo alludes to the typical Singaporean emphasis on tangible
objects and material achievements. To him, the Merlion is not
just a symbol of the Sang Nila Utama legend. It is more a symbol
of the people's aspirations for a better life by adapting and
compromising in the face of ethnic and cultural differences. His
statement is one of hope - of hope that the Merlion symbol, like
art itself, can inspire people to see beyond the material.
And that, from now on, must be one of the best things a simple
shiny plaque can do for visitors to Singapore's best-known
tourist attraction.
6. >5 S'pore corporations are keen on expanding in Philippines<
ST, 2 Jun - Five Singapore corporations are considering expanding
their operations in the Philippines. Mr Thomas Alcantara, Under-
Secretary at the Department of Trade and Industry, identified the
companies as Keppel Corporation, the Hong Leong group, the
Sembawang group, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS)
and Singapore Airlines (SIA).
He said Keppel was set to apply to the Bangko Sentralng Pilipinas
for a licence to set up a "full service" branch of Keppel Bank
in the Philippines, while the Sembawang group is interested in
an industrial estate and oil terminal facility. On the other
hand, CAAS is keen on equity participation in an expansion of the
Ninoy Aquino International Airport, while SIA is interested in
leasing between 80 and 100 hectares of land in Clark Field
Economic Zone - the former Clark Air Base - to serve as a
possible aircraft maintainence facility. Finally, Mr Alcantara
further added that the Hong Leong group is also interested in
expanding its investments in the Philippines.
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Received: 06-Jun-1994 08:56am