Why HDB prices must keep going up

Our Pigeon Hole

You'll never fool the seller in this case.

ps. I know pigeons dun fly to new zealand but heh the doors are open now.

10 million community integration fund for FT

It will be good if my mother who is chinese educated can be given the chance to learn English for free. Why not include these Singaporean who has no chance to have an english education in their earlier life a chance now to benefit from the programme. At least they can make friends with the FT during the class...which may help them to integrate better.

CPF - Children Provident Fund

ELDERLY impoverished parents who are financially abandoned by their children may soon get better legal protection.

MP Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade GRC) yesterday accepted Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan's suggestion to table a Private Member's Bill to amend and give more teeth to the Maintenance of Parents Act.

The Act enables elderly parents to approach a legal tribunal for help if their children refuse to support them financially. The legislation was first tabled in 1994 as a Private Member's Bill by then Nominated MP Walter Woon, who is now the Attorney-General.

There has been a sharp increase in the number of parents filing applications with the tribunal in recent years. There were nearly 200 such cases last year, up from 109 in 2007.

This led Mr Seah and Mr Wee Siew Kim (Ang Mo Kio GRC) to call for more measures. Mr Seah, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Community Development, Youth and Sports, said like many MPs, he has come across cases of old folk abandoned by children and 'left largely to fend for themselves'.

As a principle, social assistance should be given only if the children do not have the financial ability to support their parents, and he suggested the Commissioner heading the tribunal be given more powers to obtain data on the whereabouts and financial status of the children, particularly since some of those parents who approached the tribunal said they had lost touch with their children. -Strait Times

Speaking with my friend from Australia who is a mother of 2, she is surprise to know that such a law exist in modern Singapore. It is a good culture we have in asia that the children should take care of their elderly parents and it is the social norm to do so. In Australia for example, everyone is expected to be financially independent at a certain stage in life, both parents and children. If that is not possible, the government will step in to assist. This is the social norm. Children are not legally bound to provide for their parents. They can of course if they want to but usually they do not have to because financial aids are given by the governemnt. Singapore government must be glad that such a law can be implemented - a reinforcement of traditional views, filial piety or using it as a hidden social security system? you decide.

What are they discussing in Parliament?

Hoax from the states

Well...some people are celebrating, some people are angry and some people are neutral. Will MM please come out and say a few words please.
Hummmm..wonder where he is?

Jack Neo Confession

JACK Neo, Singapore's most successful film-maker, has confessed to a two-year affair with a freelance model less than half his age after the young woman exposed it by showing up at his Pasir Ris semi-detached home.

Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao said Miss Wendy Chong, 22, was upset that Neo, 50, had apparently lied to her and demanded to see his wife on Friday. Neo met Chong when she got a bit role as a nurse in his movie, Money No Enough 2, two years ago, and has a meatier role as Mark Lee's sister-in-law in his latest film, Being Human, which opened on Thursday, said The New Paper on Sunday.

The 1.63m tall model said Neo took her on trips overseas, including Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. 'I would go shopping while he work. After he finished his work, we would meet up and enjoy our time together,' she told TNP on Sunday.

Lianhe Wanbao said she had tried calling Jack several times on Friday but he did not answer her calls. She then went to Jack's home at about 3 pm and waited till he returned home. She told him she wanted to go in and talk to his wife, Madam Irene Kng, 46. To her surprise, Neo let her into the house and called his wife to come downstairs.

Chong said Madam Kng's reaction to her husband's affair shocked her. 'She asked me, 'What do you want?' She said that she did not care about who Jack involved with as she was content that she loved him.' The three of them later left for a meeting in a restaurant at Changi Airport's Crowne Plaza Hotel in a car driven by Madam Kng.

Jack admitted to Lianhe Wanbao that he was at fault, adding that he felt terrible but had been unable to end the affair as Chong had threatened to harm herself, and that he was worried that his wife could not forgive him.

In a surprising revelation, Madam Kng said she had known about the affair for a year but she chose to 'close one eye' and did not confront her husband. -- LIANHE WANBAO

Dear Readers

Dear readers, I hope you have enjoyed the political cartoons that I have drawn over the last few weeks. My blog has humbly crossed 10,000 views in a about a month. Thank you for your support.

In order to generate more interest, interactivity and viewership, I am writing to all of you readers out there to tell me what you would like to see in future political cartoons in this blog. You can either leave your comment here or send me an email (soontcb@gmail.com) if you want to express something on a more private level eg. an idea of what to draw. I will put your name in as a credit if your idea materialized into one of my work.

I am open to all suggestions from either side of our unique political system. Either you are a firm supporter of the PAP or the opposition parties, I will consider all comment or ideas you have. However, I do not guarantee that I will use all ideas put forward. Got OB marker to watch as well in some cases.

Thank you all once again for visiting my blog.


BenSoon

Malaysia Hospital for SIngaporean

PATIENTS who want to use Medisave to pay for private care abroad will be able to do so at 12 hospitals and medical centres in Malaysia from next month.
The facilities, owned by two Singapore health-care groups, offer care which could cost as little as half what it does here.
Patients who opt for the Malaysian hospitals must be referred by the Singapore groups' centres first. They can use money from their Medisave accounts only for day surgery or in-hospital admissions, subject to the same withdrawal limits as in Singapore.
The move, nearly a year in the making, gives Singaporeans, permanent residents and their immediate families more choice in where to receive in-patient and day surgery treatments.
The two groups are Health Management International (HMI), whose referral centre is its clinic in Balestier, and Parkway Holdings, whose referral centre is East Shore Hospital.
The ministry felt that having local partners would give an assurance of quality and prevent abuse, such as claims for unnecessary treatments, or bogus claims. -Strait times

Market flooding soon.

This piece of work is trying to cover some of the recent issues arising from the foreign talent problem in Singapore. The liberal immigration policy in Singapore is the broken tap which is the problem faced by the worker holding the tool. I added the rubber ducky to use as a relationship to express how Mr Tharman emphasized FT as being critical to Singapore and help raise our salary.
Mr Wong Kan Seng in the background ensuring that the water is of good quality but he is only looking at those in the glass and ignoring the rest around him.
Mr Lim holding the frog... you think leh. read here.
Hope you guys like this one. - Ben Soon

Transforming Singapore Economy

I have a special suggestion from a good friend to draw something regarding the 8.8% increase in ministerial pay. Was brain storming about the cartoon when Temasek Review came up with the report on what SM Goh said.