With all the bad news going around on the opposition, there’s finally some good stuffs from the opposition. I’m really glad for them because this shows that the opposite can also live up to the promise. In fact, Chiam is probably one of the more well-respected opposition because his views and reason are real and down to earth. Showing that he cares for the people in his ward also helps a lot.

However, there had been signs of his aging and he suffered a mild stroke earlier this year. Quite little was done in planning for succession and there might be a chance that the current ruling party in Parliament may claim victory in the next general election. Oppositions like him are rare. Let’s hope that there is succession to the good work that he’s done.

THE completion of a covered walkway in Potong Pasir marks the fulfillment of a promise Mr Chiam See Tong made during the 2006 General Election.

On Saturday, the opposition MP ‘opened’ the walkway which links the MRT station to the town centre, amid a shower of colourful confetti and a rousing lion dance.

Hailing the walkway as proof that the opposition ‘will fulfill whatever we promise’, he told reporters: ‘At the last election, I said I will build this covered linkway, and now this task has been completed. We have done our job.’

The project, which costs the town council $250,000, also ended a dispute between Mr Chiam and Mr Sitoh Yih Pin from the People’s Action Party, who lost the contest for the ward in 2006 polls.

Before the election, Mr Sitoh had installed solar lamps along the pathway - where the walkway now stands - after obtaining lease of the land from the Singapore Land Authority (SLA).

When some of the lights were vandalised, Mr Sitoh declined to repair them, saying the land’s lease was due to expire.

Mr Chiam, on the other hand, said it was illegal for his town council to use its funds for the repairs, as the land was not under the council’s jurisdiction.

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 31st May 2008

According to Sentosa Leisure Group Director, Service Quality & Communications, an unforeseen technical malfunction yesterday (30 May 2008) forced the cancellation of the two nightly shows for Songs of the Sea at 7.40pm and 8.40pm. It occurred just before the 7.40 show. As the management did not offer cash refund on the day of event,  the crowds were angry and disappointed with the service quality of Singapore. 

The management should have made immediate refunds so as to make the crowd less unhappy. At Sentosa, we are not only talking about Singaporeans, but we have to consider the number of tourists affected too. Well, I hope those tourists affected will not have a bad impression of Singapore because of this particular incident.

These patrons waiting to watch Sentosa’s Songs of the Sea show got really frustrated and angry at the counter staff, as no cash refund was given, and the STOMPer who was there feels this is a disgrace. Even the police had to be called in, he recounted.
In an email to STOMP on May 31, the STOMPer said:

“It started with a trip to Sentosa, where my girlfriend’s foreigner friend decided to catch the “Songs of the Sea” show, since it’s all so famous, featured all over the world in our Uniquely Singapore campaign.

“We reached Vivocity in the early afternoon, paid for 3 entrance ticket ($3 each), to enter Sentosa. After we arrived at the Beach Station, we headed straight to the ticketing counter to buy tickets to the earliest show at 7.40pm ($6 each).

“We then walked around the beach waiting for the show to start.

“At about 7.30pm, we headed to the entrance, waiting for the show to start. We waited till 7.55pm, and then we were told that the show was canceled due to “some technical difficulties”.”

Angry at the wait, the STOMPer said they rushed to the ticketing counter to get a refund.
“All this while fuming mad. We came all the way to catch this show, and it’s canceled at such a timing?”

However, the STOMPer was in for a shock, as no cash refund was provided, he said.

“What we’ll be getting is a lousy piece of voucher that gives us $6 worth of credits that we could use at the gift shop ONLY at the monorail station, OR, come back and catch the show another day (within the 3 months validity period).

“It was not known when the show will resume, since this “technical difficulty” caused the 8.40pm show to be canceled as well.”

He added:”Loads of foreign visitors were equally fuming as well, since they are tourists, and would not be back visiting Sentosa anytime soon.

“Like wise, we paid a total of $27 to catch this show, and frankly both me and my girlfriend just isn’t interested to catch this show anytime within 3 months either. ”

He estimates the number of visitors to the show to be about 1,000 and described the tense situation:

“Some foreigners began to bang tables; staff (including a manager at the counter) just nonchalantly said “Sentosa will never give cash refunds. If you’re interested in swapping tickets for vouchers, step forward.”

“When these visitors demanded for cash refunds, rangers were called in to shove them aside. Police were later called to control the crowd. ”

On the impression this incident would create, he added:

“As a Singaporean myself, I can’t help to feel disgusted, and even ashamed that such acts are done right on Singaporean grounds. What happened to GEMS?

“We’ve went through many, many campaigns to bring good service in Singapore, and we could not even fulfill a simple task of refunding cash when goods are not delivered.

“To make things worse, we have tourists involved in this saga. What kind of image are we projecting to these visitors? Are we much akin to thugs who shove people aside should there be an argument?

“I am seriously embarrassed over this incident. My girlfriend’s friend have gave up on Singaporean service after this incident. ”

The Police told STOMP a call was received at about7:50pm about a rowdy crowd at Sentosa’s Siloso Beach formed due to the cancellation of a show caused by a technical glitch.

The Police assisted in crowd control.

Sentosa says it is offering cash refunds in its statement to STOMP. Read its full story here.

Another STOMPer also had a similar experience. Read his account here.

Article obtained from  STOMP at http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/singaporeseen/viewContent.jsp?id=24721

So, Ms Chee Siok Chin, sister of Dr Chee Soon Juan, got charged and was found guilty of contempt of court yesterday. This was because the judge felt that their behavior in the cross-examination of PM Lee Hsien Loong and MM Lee Kuan Yew was grossly disgraceful and obstructed the delivery of justice.

Dr Chee will be brought to court on a later date and will be defended by Mr Jeyaretnam in court. Personally, I felt that the judge was extremely fast in bringing the duo to court, at least from the layman’s (me) perspective.

MS CHEE Siok Chin, the sister of Singapore Democratic Party leader Chee Soon Juan, was found guilty of contempt of court yesterday and will be sentenced on Monday.

Meanwhile, High Court judge Belinda Ang adjourned her brother’s hearing for a similar offence to Monday, ‘as a matter of courtesy to Mr (J.B.) Jeyaretnam’.

On Thursday, Dr Chee had engaged Mr Jeyaretnam, the former Workers’ Party leader and a lawyer, to represent him, but the latter could not make it to yesterday’s hearing.

Mr Jeyaretnam, when asked over the phone his reasons for taking on Dr Chee’s case, responded: ‘Why can’t I?’

Mr Jeyaretnam became an opposition MP in 1981, but has been in the political wilderness since 2001. That was when he was declared bankrupt for failing to pay damages totalling about $600,000 from defamation lawsuits.

He managed to settle his debts last year and made his political comeback last month by filing an application to set up the Reform Party.

Dr Chee has not commented on why he decided to have Mr Jeyaretnam represent him, after having either represented himself or engaged lawyer M. Ravi in almost all his cases in recent years.

Still, there was a point in court yesterday when Dr Chee appeared ready to jettison the 82-year-old in favour of Mr Ravi, who acted for his sister yesterday.

After Mr Ravi had concluded his defence of Ms Chee, Dr Chee stood up to ask for a short break. He wanted to have a discussion with Mr Ravi about the prospect of using him and his arguments instead of waiting for Monday and Mr Jeyaretnam.

However, when the proceedings resumed 15 minutes later, he said that he would stick with Mr Jeyaretnam.

The contempt charges against the Chees were for their behaviour during a three-day hearing this week to assess damages in a defamation suit brought against them by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

Justice Ang said on the third day of the hearings that Dr Chee and Ms Chee had behaved in a manner that ’scandalised the court, adversely affected the administration of justice and impugned the dignity and the authority of the court’.

Defending Ms Chee, Mr Ravi used a total of four analogies to make the point that the contempt proceedings should have been made at the moment the offence was committed and not delayed until the end.

He compared it to fetching a fire extinguisher only after a building had burnt down, shutting the stable door after the horse had bolted, invoking self-defence as a basis for hostilities two days after warring parties had withdrawn from the battlefield and showing a red card to a player after a football game has ended.

‘There was no attempt to give a yellow card as warning in this case by way of citation of contempt,’ he asserted.

However, Justice Ang did not agree with his analogies and found Ms Chee guilty.

The Chees will appear in court again on Monday, Ms Chee for sentencing and Dr Chee to defend against contempt charges.

Going by Dr Chee’s previous contempt-of-court trial, the Chees could be in for prison terms.

Two years ago, Dr Chee was sentenced to one day in jail and a $6,000 fine for contempt in scandalising the court. He did not pay the fine and was jailed a further seven days.

jeremyau@sph.com.sg

Article obtained from straitstimes.com on 31st May 2008

An earlier article by a STOMPer says his experiences with several events organised during NUS’s admission exercise, and a recent encounter with a lecturer there, led him to the university is arrogant and that it belittles poly graduates. With regards to this, NUS replied to STOMP that they welcomes students from all educational backgrounds and a fair number of polytechnic students have gained admission to NUS and successfully graduated.

I think it is quite normal that people belittles poly graduates or even ITE students. From my own experience, when people know that you are from a neighbourhood school, they belittle you as well. However, so long as you are confident about yourself, I guess you don’t really have to be bothered about what others think.

NUS would like assure the public that it does not discriminate against polytechnic students, and that it welcomes students from all educational backgrounds.

This statement came in response to an article in STOMP, in which a STOMPer said that his experiences with a rude lecturer and several events organised during the university’s admission exercise, led him to believe that the university is arrogant and belittles poly graduates.

In its reply, NUS said:

“We refer to the feedback from a STOMP contributor posted on 26 May 2008, titled ‘NUS admission exercise show of arrogance and belittling of polygrads’.

“We are sorry to hear that the contributor had an unpleasant experience at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Faculty of Science (FoS) Open House held on 24 May 2008.

“We would like to assure the contributor and all readers that NUS welcomes students from all educational backgrounds.

“Admission to NUS is largely based on academicmerit. We also admit up to 10 per cent of students under the category of discretionary admission.

“A fair number of polytechnic students have gained admission to NUS and successfully graduated.

“The Open House was an initiative by FoS to invite prospective undergraduates (both Polytechnic and A-level graduates) who have been offered admission to the Faculty.

“At the event, more than 30 talks by faculty members and Science alumni, as well as lab tours were organised to provide an overview of an NUS Science education from variousfronts – academic rigor, student experiences, career options, as well as opportunities for graduate education.

“Over 1000 students and parents attended the FoS Open House and visitors had found it helpful speaking to faculty members, students and alumni atthe event, before accepting the offer from NUS.

“NUS is open to students from all educational backgrounds and we remain committed to providing a holistic education aimed at fully developing the intellectual and personal strengths of students.

“We hope the contributor can contact us at Tel: 65163333 as we would like to address his concerns.”