What this poster has to do with SMRT fares

Filipinos may not be financially astute... but at least they care...
What this poster has to do with SMRT fares
Weekend • October 20, 2007
Letter from Chong Chee Han

I am a retiree and have returned from the Philippines where I stayed for 59 days.
I refer to the report, "Ministry to review concession-fare hours" (Sept 20), particularly the reply of Minister of State (Transport) Lim Hwee Hua, who said: "Concessionary travel for senior citizens is granted by the public transport operators ... and ultimately cross-subsidised by the other full-fare paying adults."
The cross-subsidy reasoning is only a rationale used to support the raise in fares by the transport operators and the limiting of the hours of concession.
I agree that senior citizens should not join in the morning rush hour if they want to enjoy the concessionary fare. However, I think they should not made to pay full fare between 4pm and 7pm on weekdays on the SMRT. Avoiding travel during this period would be disruptive to their activities. Why is SMRT taking a different approach from the bus companies and the North East Line with regard to the evening hours?
Ms Lee Bee Wah (Ang Mo Kio GRC) has said correctly that there is a fixed cost "whether the train or bus carries one passenger or full capacity". As such, the fares paid by senior citizens amount to additional revenue. It is incorrect to say that the more senior citizens travel, the more other full-paying commuters would have to bear the cost. I say the transport operators, in particular SMRT, are concerned about making as much profit as possible than their social responsibilities.
Instead, transport operators should encourage more senior citizens to leave their homes and travel around our beautiful city.
Let me share with readers what the local government of Makati City in Manila is doing for their senior citizens. This advertisement appeared in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on Oct 11 (picture).
In Singapore, this might be considered a foolish way to spend public money. Copyright MediaCorp Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/217691.asp

Legal eagles recall old days to mark Law Society's 40th year

I salute a man comitted to upholding justice, RIP sir...

"Mr Hwang acquired a reputation for short but incisive court reporting that showed up a lawyer's or judge's competence or otherwise."


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Legal eagles recall old days to mark Law Society's 40th year

19 Oct07.
CJ and top counsel share personal reflections in special issue of Law Gazette
By K.C. VIJAYAN (Law Correspondent)

MENTION the name TF Hwang, and lawyers who cut their teeth in the 1960s and 70s will smile.
One or two might even scowl. "TF" was a journalist who could make or break a lawyer's day with his reporting.
Mr Hwang acquired a reputation for short but incisive court reporting that showed up a lawyer's or judge's competence or otherwise.
Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong fondly recalled the then Straits Times court reporter's regular post-retirement column, "Down Memory Lane".
Mr Hwang died in April last year.
CJ Chan added that, given Mr Hwang's knowledge of the law, "magistrates would become reticent whenever he was in the courtroom".
Writing in the latest issue of the La~ Gazette, he recalled other nuggets about what law practice was like in Singapore from 1963 to 1986. He was then in private practice.
He and other luminaries were asked to write about the era by the Law Society to mark its 40th anniversary. The other personal reflections included those from Singapore's Ambassador-at-Large Tommy Koh and Senior Counsel K.S. Rajah and Michael Hwang.
Among other things, CJ Chan reminisced about professional ethics, compensation for solicitors' frauds and the founding of tile Law Society.
He noted a lawyer's trade in the 1960s was "generally slow and easy going' and he did "everything that came along".
This was "unlike today when young lawyers had to specialise", and there is lack of opportunities for lawyers in large firms "to get into the act".
He said the changes in law practice have "been vast and in some areas unrecognisably so".
"If I were to start practice today, it is most unlikely that I will end my legal career in public service, such are the current and future economic and social forces that bear, and will bear, on law practice," he said.
Senior Counsel K.S. Rajah, who started work as a deputy public prosecutor in 1963, said in those days, "trade unions, students and secret societies were in defiant mood but prosecutors were expected to be fair, reasonable and present their cases fairly to court".
Among other things, he said as DPP, he would direct a police officer to produce an accused person before a magistrate when told the latter wanted to make a confession.
He noted that in the Gold Bars murder case in 1973, seven confessions were taken this way.
Mr Rajah noted that the procedure adopted by magistrates then was different from the current practice of the police in recording confessions at police stations.
Senior Counsel Michael Hwang said lawyers in the 1970s led an eventful life and had "time for each other".
"We were certainly a lot poorer than lawyers are now, but (arguably) we enjoyed our lives a little more," he said.
Writing in a personal capacity on law and diplomacy in the same commemorative issue, Professor Tommy Koh said the "Singapore's school of diplomacy is a fusion of hard-headed realpolitik and pragmatic idealism".
"Singapore's leaders and diplomats are known and respected for their unsentimental and logical analysis of international situations and regional trends," he observed.
vijayan@sph.com.sg
http://www.straitstimes.com

Racist bloggers: Best to drown their voices

"What is needed is for the largely-civilised online community to drown the voices of the hatemongers."

Racist bloggers: Best to drown their voices
While a deterrence, the law cannot be the silver bullet that slays the racist monster
Friday • October 19, 2007
Nazry Bahrawinazry@mediacorp.com.sg

IF YOU discovered a blog with vulgar, racist remarks, how would you react? For trainee teacher Tanveer Khan, who recently stumbled across two such blogs — apparently created by the same person — it was a no-brainer: Alert the authorities so that this person with a "dangerous mind" could be "stopped".True enough, about a week after his email to the Media Development Authority (MDA), which in turn notified the police, the offending blogs were taken offline, as Today reported.
The incident prompted other readers to write in and direct this newspaper to other offending websites and remarks posted online, including hostile, xenophobic remarks posted on the website of a German dragonboat club in Singapore.A Singaporean on the team told Today: "We have written to the MDA and are seeking their assistance on this ... The (proposed) revised Penal Code addresses offences of people guilty of causing racial and religious disharmony. I wonder if this would qualify."When it comes to online bigots, it seems Singaporeans expect the authorities to intervene. But is that really the best course of action?
Shaped by past incidents, the public reaction is no real surprise. In 2005, three young Singaporeans were convicted under the hitherto little-known Sedition Act after they posted racist remarks online. Two of them were jailed, while the third and youngest was given a two-year probation and ordered to do community service with Malay welfare organisations.Now, with the proposed changes to the Penal Code, which make it easier for the police to crack down on online racists, among others, the current expectations that the authorities will deal with online bigots could become entrenched.While legislation serves as one form of deterrence, it cannot be the silver bullet that slays the multi-headed racist hydra.Member of Parliament Zaqy Mohamad, for one, agrees that it is impossible to monitor everything on the Internet. And while the Government takes a serious view against racism, it cannot possibly crack down on every single racist remark in cyberspace — even if members of the public point them out.More importantly, such an approach may not be the best way to preserve Singapore's racial and religious fabric.At a recent Asian youth summit here organised by the World Conference of Religions for Peace (WCRP), local participants felt that any interfaith dialogue to build bonds between races would be more effective if it were initiated at the grassroots, rather than at the government, level.

By extension, it might be better for citizens to take the lead in protecting the bonds between races. What is there to stop the average citizen from contacting online service provider Google, which owns the service that hosted the two offending blogs, to demand that they be taken down?
When contacted after the racist blogs were blocked, a Google spokesperson said: "When we are notified of the existence of content that violates our terms of service ... if we determine that it does, we will remove it immediately."
Google did not say it would act only if the complaint came from the police. And if one person's voice is not persuasive enough, rally more to the cause.
Some may argue that in cyberspace, where bloggers can hide behind the veil of anonymity, naming and shaming may be nothing more than a sham.
But the true benefit of societal self-policing is not that it can cane or shame the prejudice out of someone's mind, but that it affirms the true virtues of the society.
What is needed is for the largely-civilised online community to drown the voices of the hatemongers.

In the long run, of course, education is the best way to stem racist tendencies. The Education Ministry can take the fight to schools by ensuring sufficient focus on the study of ethnicity and cultures in the syllabi at the primary and secondary level.Case studies of countries such as South Africa and Rwanda, which suffered from apartheid and ethnic cleansing respectively, can help young Singaporeans better understand the need for multiculturalism.On the legislative front, what is now needed is to manage people's expectations. A close look at the amended Penal Code shows that the punishment for causing racial or religious discord — a three-year jail term or a fine, or both — is the same as that of the Sedition Act.So, perhaps it is better to regard the legal revision as a symbolic gesture rather than a sign that the Government will go after all racist bloggers in the same way it did with the three who were prosecuted.Indeed, there has been no word on how the latest incident has panned out. And that may not be a bad thing.The foremost custodians of racial and religious harmony in Singapore, both online and offline, should be its people. If it were not the case, Singapore would not be what it is today. We should never forget that.

Copyright MediaCorp Press Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/217483.asp

Judge says 'read it' to bible thief

Impressive, a holistic sentence...
"You will see at page 65 that it says "Thou shalt not steal. While you are in prison, sit in prison and read the Bible, and ensure that you don't come before the courts again," Reddy said.


Judge says 'read it' to bible thief
October 10 2007 at 09:23AM Singapore - A Singaporean judge sentenced a man to four months in jail for stealing a Bible, admonishing him with Scripture before hauling him off to prison, The Straits Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.
District judge Bala Reddy also gave a new Bible to the 26-year-old thief, who said he had tried to steal the book from a bookshop last month because he wanted to replace his old, tattered copy.
At the Tuesday sentencing, the judge told the defendant - who has previous convictions for theft - to open his gift.
"You will see at page 65 that it says "Thou shalt not steal. While you are in prison, sit in prison and read the Bible, and ensure that you don't come before the courts again," Reddy said.

http://rawstory.com/news/dpa/Judge_gives_thief_new_Bible_four_mo_10092007.html
http://www.cathnews.com/news/710/71.php
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=nw20071010041618707C658199