HEARD:

thOse  whO ?

want  fOur  wIves ?

be  MUSLIM ?

LEGAL and  OFFICIAL ?

Can the new rule be also included like below:

If wife cant give birth or cant give birth to boys,  can  singaporean man married another woman or have concubine........hahaha!

Lilke what?

If i am government, i will give  PRIORITY to those PRs who have  more  boys than girls. to become singaporeans   .....boys can serve NS mah.

HAVE YOUR SAY: Government encourages more Singapore PRs to take up citizenship

Government encourages more Singapore PRs to take up citizenship

SM Goh during a dialogue session with over 200 residents from Marine Parade to gather feedback on the Prime Minister's National Day Rally

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Government is moving to encourage more Permanent Residents in the country to take up citizenship.

Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said some PRs will be approached to become citizens and if they don’t do so, their status will not be renewed.

Immigration was one of many issues tackled during a dialogue session with over 200 residents from Marine Parade to gather feedback on the Prime Minister’s National Day Rally.

SM Goh did not give details on getting PRs to take up citizenship.

"Moving forward, we are going to approach some of them to take up Singapore citizenship, if they don’t then their PR will not be renewed. That’s a better way.

"We now have quite a few PRs, 500,000 in Singapore, so hopefully maybe 50,000 can be selected to become Singapore citizens, the rest can be PRs, contributing to Singapore’s economy," he said.

SM Goh was responding to a suggestion from a participant who said Employment Pass holders should take up citizenship which he believed will discourage foreign talents from working in Singapore.

Besides, SM Goh pointed out that Employment Pass holders serve as buffers where their numbers can be reduced during a downturn.

Another radical suggestion put forward was to bar foreigners from buying private property but SM Goh noted developers would just build more high—rise private apartments to counter it.

"At the moment, our policy will be, condominium, private sector. They want to buy, let them buy because they actually bring in money for Singapore. They may not actually stay there but they bring in money.

"They buy from locals, locals are happy to get the money but it’s not actually adding to space. In fact, that’s actually ideal. They buy here, they don’t drive cars, they don’t live here, we just get their money! They’re buying air!" laughed SM Goh.

Separately, SM Goh revealed it will cost S$1 billion to upgrade the train signalling system to increase capacity and reduce the waiting time for commuters.

He said problems can be resolved rationally but noted that for every solution, there are consequences.

Citing overcrowding in trains, SM Goh said the problem is expected and can be addressed.

In this case, resources have to be put in place to upgrade the system.

The cost may not be passed down to commuters directly, but SM Goh pointed out that it has to be defrayed.

Similarly, there are consequences with measures introduced in the property sector.

SM Goh acknowledged the situation has resulted in many unhappy Singaporeans, and he sought to put things in perspective.

"Those who missed out, those who can’t buy this, who can’t upgrade and so on, so we are really feeling the unhappiness, question is was the policy good?

"Unhappiness, those who are happier, in total there’s net happiness, there’s no such thing called total happiness, don’t believe in it. It’s whether we create net happiness in all this," said SM Goh.

He added it is "very difficult to satisfy everybody" and in politics, trying to make everybody happy is "impossible".

They key, said SM Goh is to "make the most number of people happy, the most number of times".

Another idea worth considering in managing transport woes is to have a "zero vehicular traffic growth".

"Let the COE take care of the number for cars on the road so when the number of cars cannot grow when the COE is so high then the roads will be freer so it’s a combination of high COEs and low ERP.

"But we have opted in the last 10 years or so to give Singaporeans the 4 wheels so we have opted for 3% growth in vehicle population and therefore use ERP to tweak it because one can argue that’s fairer." he said.

The question is to decide which is the best way forward, said the Senior Minister.

He also answered questions on why the $9,000 award to recognise the contributions of NSmen is not extended to all who have served the country.

SM Goh said authorities can consider giving older Singaporeans a token for their contributions.

"I think the old days, the financial sacrifices were much more because you were paid just a nominal sum but there were other benefits. If you were born earlier, maybe you bought your HDB flat cheaper! So you cannot argue.

"Your point is whether we can recognise in some way, token well I think we take note so that in future, they can remember the older ones, just a token, maybe past 55, help them with their medical top ups, I think that’s possible. It’s a suggestion we will take note."

SM Goh was relaxed and candid in his answers. At several points, he threw questions back, seeking a consensus on issues.

His message — that Singapore’s problems can be resolved rationally, no matter how complex, with a good dose of the Singapore Spirit. — CNA/fa

WHY ?

dOes  a PR ?

nOt  want ?

tO bE ?

a  sIngapOrean ?

NEW ZEALAND Bracing for more misery

Christchurch could suffer more damage as storm heads for the city

CHRISTCHURCH

The storm, with expected wind gusts of up to 130kmh, hit the city of Dunedin — around 400km south of Christchurch — last night.

“(There are) trees down, lines down, roofs lifting, trees falling on houses all that sort of thing, the wind is moving up the island so we’re expecting Timaru, and later Christchurch, to get hammered as well,” fire service shift manager Jan Wills said.

Weather forecasters said the storm, which is expected to bring heavy rains today, could further damage trees and buildings that were weakened in the earthquake.

Another threat arose last night when it emerged the flood defences of the Waimakariri River just north of Christchurch had been weakened.

It was feared that it would burst its banks if rains cause the river to swell.

Hundreds of families in the area were told to be ready to evacuate.

More than 60 aftershocks, with magnitudes of up to 5.4, hit the region within 24 hours of the quake. Civil defence officials warned that aftershocks were likely to continue for several weeks.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key flew to Christchurch to survey the devastation yesterday and pledged government support for the quake victims.

“We are not going to let Christchurch suffer this great tragedy on its own,” he said.

Mr Key said part of the reason the city escaped major injuries was because the quake happened before dawn.

“If this had happened five hours earlier or five hours later (when many more people were in the city), there would have been absolute carnage in terms of human life,” he told

The quake cut power across the region, blocked roads with debris and disrupted gas and water supplies, but Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker said services were being restored.

Power was back to 90 per cent of the city by yesterday and water supply had resumed for all but 15 to 20 per cent of residents.

Portable toilets and tanks of fresh water were placed around the city.

Up to 90 extra police officers were flown into Christchurch to help and soldiers were likely to join the recovery effort today, said Mr Parker.

Emergency evaluation teams picked their way through streets piled with rubble and littered with shattered glass to inspect buildings and determine whether evacuations were necessary.

At least 500 buildings, including 90 in the central business district, were destroyed by the quake.

Coastal and riverside suburbs were among the worst-hit areas, and health fears may yet force evacuations, the civil defence agency said.— A storm bringing strong winds and heavy rains is posing a new threat to New Zealand’s second-biggest city Christchurch, as recovery work following Saturday’s 7.1 quake gathered pace yesterday.TV One News.

PM heads for China on a working visit

SINGAPORE

In an interview last week, ahead of his eight-day working visit to China from today, Mr Lee also said Singapore “wishes to participate in China’s development, both to help China as well as ride on (its) growth”.

Thousands of Chinese officials have visited Singapore on study trips to learn about our development experience and policies and many of Singapore’s officials have travelled to China to keep abreast of rapid advancements all over the country, he said.

Besides the Deng Xiaoping commemorative marker, a ground-breaking will also be held for the China Cultural Centre — to be set up at the new Singapore University of Technology and Design. The new university is a threeway collaboration that also includes Zhejiang University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.— A Deng Xiaoping commemorative marker will be unveiled to mark two decades of Singapore’s diplomatic relations with China, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in an interview with Xinhua news agency as he reiterated “excellent relations” between both countries.

Newsweek

Singapore hopes to play a bridging role between China and Asean as it shares a “deep cultural affinity” with China, said Mr Lee.

For instance, the Singapore-China bilateral free trade agreement was a “pathfinder” for the subsequent China-Asean FTA, he said.

Asked about Sino-United States relations,

Mr Lee said it is the key to stability in East Asia.

“The relationship will always be complex and multi-faceted,” he said “Regular dialogue can help to manage difficult issues and discover areas where both sides can cooperate for mutual benefit.”

Mr Lee was also asked about Singapore’s motivation as the first Asean nation to negotiate an FTA with Taiwan. His reply: As a strong supporter of free trade, Singapore actively pursues opportunities to strengthen economic and trade relations with all its trading partners.

Mr Lee’s latest visit to China will include stops at Chongqing and Shanghai municipalities, as well as the cities of Changsha, Wuhan and Suzhou.

This will allow him to observe first hand the development in central Chinese cities, “to better understand the role these cities play in China’s strategy to direct development from the coastal to inland regions”.

Mr Lee is also seeking an update on the Suzhou Industrial Park’s progress, and will visit the Shanghai World Expo.

Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean will be Acting Prime Minister in Mr Lee’s absence.magazine had recently called Mr Lee “the middle man” who has managed to “carve out a role as friend to all the big powers in the region” and Xinhua asked him how Singapore would promote better China-Asean relations.

There are three main objectives for my visit.

First, to observe first-hand the developments in cities in Central China, to better understand the role these cities play in China’s strategy to direct development from the coastal to inland regions.

Second, to get an update on the progress of the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP), which I last visited in 2004.

Finally, to visit the Shanghai Expo which has received very good reviews from both international and Chinese visitors.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

gOvernments ?

- hIgh cOsts ?

- Overheads ?

- UNprOdUctIvIty ?

- INFLATION ?

- FATS ?

- WASTES ?

- RAFFLES ?

- BARRIERS ?

- CORRUPTIONS ?

- MANIPULATIONS ?

wIthOUt  gOvernments ?

TRULY  FREE  MARKETS ?

wOrld  ecOnOmIes  wIll  SOAR ?

In the Republican address, Kentucky Representative Geoff Davis called on Mr Obama to reduce government regulations as a way to encourage economic growth and spur employment.

He cited 191 rules and regulations, each with an annual cost of more than US$100 million ($134 million), which the Obama administration is preparing to enact.

“The sooner we rein in the red-tape factory in Washington DC, the sooner small businesses can get back to creating jobs and helping more Americans find an honest day’s work,” Mr Davis said.

Wanted: A thriving US middle class

WASHINGTON

In his weekly address on the radio and Internet, Mr Obama said the Labour Day holiday today is a time to “reaffirm our commitment to the great American middle class” and continue to work to encourage economic growth.

“That means doing everything we can to accelerate job creation,” Mr Obama said. “So this Labour Day, we should recommit ourselves to our time-honoured values and to this fundamental truth: To heal our economy, we need more than a healthy stock market; we need bustling Main Streets and a growing, thriving middle class.”

Next week, Mr Obama is scheduled to outline new ideas this week to boost growth and hiring as the US economy emerges from the worst recession in more than seven decades. He has also urged Congress to pass a package of measures to help small businesses, including tax breaks and aid to ease credit.

The Labour Department reported last week that private payrolls climbed by a more-than-forecast 67,000 last month.

Overall employment fell 54,000 for a second month and unemployment rose to 9.6 per cent from 9.5 per cent in July as more people entered the labour force.

White House economic advisers are considering additional measures, including more tax breaks for small businesses and new spending on infrastructure, according to congressional aides familiar with the discussions.

Mr Obama may also renew his call for Congress to permanently extend a research and development tax credit.

In his address, the President highlighted steps already taken by his administration to encourage economic growth through infrastructure spending, aid to state and local governments, and tax cuts for small businesses. “The steps we have taken to date have stopped the bleeding,” he said.

In the Republican address, Kentucky Representative Geoff Davis called on Mr Obama to reduce government regulations as a way to encourage economic growth and spur employment.

He cited 191 rules and regulations, each with an annual cost of more than US$100 million ($134 million), which the Obama administration is preparing to enact.

“The sooner we rein in the red-tape factory in Washington DC, the sooner small businesses can get back to creating jobs and helping more Americans find an honest day’s work,” Mr Davis said.

He has introduced legislation that would require Congress to vote on every major new rule before it can be enacted by the federal government.

“This legislation would serve as a much needed restraining order against unelected busy bodies and bureaucrats whose actions could make it harder to create jobs,” he said. — President Barack Obama said on Saturday that the United States economy needs a “thriving middle class” as it recovers from the “worst recession in our lifetimes”.Bloomberg

Federal debt is expected to exceed 100 percent of gross domestic product starting in 2012.

1 A 30-year history of key indicators

The other is whether, should that strategy stop working, China will be able to change it.By MICHAEL WINESAs leaders stick to a top-down strategy that favors state-owned enterprises, fears grow that the nation’s economic miracle is in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, uncertainty reigns on Wall Street.

By PETER S. GOODMANThe experts have run through many of their prescriptions for an ailing economy. By MICHAEL WINESAs leaders stick to a top-down strategy that favors state-owned enterprises, fears grow that the nation’s economic miracle is in jeopardy.

Put it away, boys!

features@mediacorp.com.sg

THE GUARDIAN

Once seen only on the dancefloor at weddings, suddenly the male cleavage is everywhere.

It’s all too much

Jess Cartner-Morley

NOT since the glory days of Eva Herzigova and the Wonderbra have we seen a display quite like this. At every turn, bare chests are being thrust into our consciousness.

They are there on stage at every music festival, and caught on camera by the paparazzi most nights outside fancy restaurants. They are tanned and oiled, puffed and paraded.

The difference this time is that the cleavage in question is male.

The images that have filled the slow news days of August have, for once, not been of female celebrities in their beachwear, but of their menfolk. Of their menfolk’s pectorals, to be precise.

I have tried, really I have, to look on the bright side and welcome this development as a step toward gender equality. But (a) is it not a little depressing that of everything women have contributed to civilisation, it is displaying your naked chest that men have picked up on?

And (b) well, just, eew. I can’t take it any more. Those photographs of Simon Cowell in his boxfresh white drawstring trousers and mirrored sunglasses, an overgrown Ken doll dressed unconvincingly for kung fu, were bad enough, but then Cowell has long famously struggled with the concept of where one’s waistband should sit, so it is only to be expected that he would misjudge how much chest to display.

No, the final straw came when Jude Law — the 11th best-dressed man in Britain, according to GQ magazine — took Sienna Miller out for dinner dressed in a V-neck sweater slashed as low as a wrestler’s vest. Gentlemen, please. Put it away.

Not long ago, sightings of the male cleavage were pretty much limited to the dancefloor at weddings, when late-night revellers would inexplicably feel the urge to undo several buttons on their best shirt. Anyone present was too drunk to notice, so no harm was done.

But a new breed of men’s T-shirts is scooped or slashed low enough at the front to make a full-frontal display of chest hair and musculature non-negotiable. In one generation, it seems, sober men have gone from wearing the top button of theirpyjamas done up to letting it all hang out.

It began innocently enough. A few years ago, in an attempt to find some middle ground between suited-and-booted and jeans-and-T-shirted, fashionable men began a trend for wearing a T-shirt under a suit jacket or blazer. It worked almost too well: A victim of its own success, it quickly went from being an early adopter identifier to being a common sight on a Saturday night at provincial bars.

And so it was that those who had  kicked the look off — Law, Will Young and Russell Brand, among others — began to push the envelope a little more, to put a bit of space between themselves and the Burton-clad masses. They did this by replacing simple tops with faded tour Tshirts and then, when that, too, became a cliche, with the scoop-neck versions that began to be widely available in American Apparel, and later in Gap.

At the most recent menswear shows, the look was given the seal of approval by that venerable house of French chic, Hermes. The older generation of wearers has retained the jacket (so that Law now sometimes wears a jacket with a higher neckline than the T-shirt below, which looks really odd), but a younger breed of male peacocks around the world, Ronaldo Cristiano to Gossip Girl’s Ed Westwick, has dispensed with its services, all the better to flaunt their hours in the gym.

Can we hope that this trend will slip away? Personally, I’m more than a little nervous. The more extreme the fashion trend, the more extreme the counter trend tends to be, and if there’s one menswear trend I’m seriously allergic to it’s a man in a turtleneck.

What happened to the good old polo shirt, anyway? Hello, boys?

In  vIew  Of   Open rIsk  Of  near tOtal lOss

and   dIre  Of  fIxed  near  zerO  Interest  rate

bEttEr  and  safEr  tO  depOsIt  as  partIcIpatIng  sharehOlder  In

GENTING  TWINS ?

REVERSE  ANNOUNCEMENT

TRUTH #### FACT

100% DEPOSIT GUARANTEE

REDUCED  TO

S$50,000  DEPOSIT INSURANCE

Deposit insurance limit to be raised to $50,000

CLAIRE HUANG

clairehuang@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE

Singapore started the scheme in April 2006 to protect ordinary depositors should a bank or finance company go under.

In a statement on Friday, the MAS said that it will go ahead with plans to raise insurance coverage from the current $20,000 to $50,000 for each depositor at each member bank.

That means if a depositor has at least $50,000 in a bank that folds, he would get back a maximum of $50,000 instead of $20,000.

The MAS said the move was made following public consultation. Members of the public had asked for a higher coverage of $100,000. However, it pointed out that the incremental benefit is small and may not justify the cost if the amount is over $50,000.

Some 90 per cent of depositors will be covered under the scheme.

The MAS also plans to include deposits of other non-bank depositors, such as sole proprietorships and partnerships, under the scheme.

It said it did consider insuring only certain types of businesses and excluding companies but this was not ideal. There was difficulty in setting a common criteria that applied to the diverse range of businesses.

The MAS hopes to implement the revised scheme early next year.— The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) plans to enhance the Deposit Insurance (DI) Scheme, including raising the insurance coverage limit to $50,000 for the individual depositor.