Smokers and non-smokers: We can get along if they ...

Letter from Ng Ee Laine

Smoke only in UNAIR-CONDITIONED ‘smoking rooms’

 

Don’t smoke in my face

Don't kIll my cells

Don't caUse me CANCER

Letter from Felix Chua

Stanchart’s board needs a Singaporean

Shouldn’t Temasek, as its single largest shareholder, be more keen to participate in the running of the bank?

Conrad Raj

conrad@mediacorp.com.sg

Singapore accounted for 12 per cent of the group’s pre-tax profits and, together with Hong Kong and India, was responsible for half the group’s profits before tax. More voices from this part of the world could provide a greater insight into the region and help in the bank’s growth and expansion plans.

She does not like the term ‘foreign talent’ as S’pore has a lot of talent

SINGAPORE

Explaining why she “never liked the term”, Ms Sim said: “I believe in the opposite.

I think Singapore has a lot of talent.”

But, to sustain a dynamic economy, Ms Sim reiterated that the country has to keep an open door to talented migrants.

And with immigration set to be an election issue, Ms Sim pointed out that the rate of intake of foreign manpower “has been tightened quite considerably”.

The former senior director at the National Population and Talent Division had been dealing with the country’s population challenges since August 2009.

If elected, she intends to focus on the needs of young families and women who are trying to juggle different roles in their lives.

The mother of two children, aged seven and four, admitted yesterday entering politics was not an easy decision. Like many young mothers, Ms Sim wished for more time with her children.

But Ms Sim felt that community building is “meaningful work” and her family supported her desire to enter politics.

When asked how she would balance the needs of her family and constituents,

Ms Sim said her husband, who is based overseas, was expected back shortly as he is finishing his employment contract.

“I think a family is more than just wife and husband,” she added.

“I have quite a lot of support from my parents and also time to time, from my extended family. That has allowed me to balance my professional work, time with the children as well as community volunteering which I have enjoyed very much.”— To new People’s Action Party candidate Sim Ann, the term “foreign talent” has the connotation that “talent has to come from elsewhere”.

Leong Wee Keat

2006 GE                                              2                                                    10

2001 GE                                              2                                                        9

PAP’s large labour bloc an acknowledgement of hot issues

NG JING YNG

jingyng@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE

With seven of the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) new faces now in the labour movement and 15 altogether, or 17 per cent of the party’s entire line-up, the PAP is bringing a sizeable labour bloc to the polls.

It is needed, said veteran unionist and two-term MP Halimah Yacob, to represent the concerns of workers, a “huge and important segment of the population”, and across a wide range of sectors and industries.— It is a tacit acknowledgment of the issues likely to dominate the ground in the coming years, according to political analysts and incumbent Members of Parliament (MPs).

but there is at least one who is an outlier and this has puzzled many people,” he said.

Private doctor was no better at National Eye Centre

My wife has been a patient at the Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC ) for a few years. Lately, influenced by her friend, she asked to be treated by a certain doctor whom she thought would give her better treatment.

As that doctor has a private clinic at the SNEC , she was told that she would have to pay the full fee and not the subsidised rate. However, after a visit or two, she felt the private doctor was about the same as the other doctors who had treated her previously at the SNEC .

But she was told that once a patient opts for private treatment, he or she is not allowed to go back to the public clinic.

What is the reason for penalising a patient?

Letter from NTS Chopra

#### Is this a PRIVATE SCAM ? ? ? ?

With cat’s-eye markers, we would be able to see the lanes more clearly in such situations. I am not advocating this feature for all roads here, just the expressways.

Letter from Mohsen Ghadessy

Letter from Sandra Jayandran

Let’s re-examine our assumptions lest we forget.

Facts do not tell us what norms are. We all assume genocide is a grave wrong. But it is only wrong if we assume the value of sanctity of life of all persons.