ICA To All Travellers: Comply With Security Checks

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority will not hesitate to take firm action against those who refuse to comply with checks, in accordance with the law.

Its officers are empowered by law to conduct travel document and baggage checks on all travellers.

This follows an incident a week ago, when a traveller, “P J Wong” said he was stopped by an ICA officer at Changi Airport for a random luggage check.

He initially claimed he was held back without an explanation. In an effort to save himself from “being dragged away against (his) will”, he started filming the ICA officer with his mobile phone, though he was in a restricted area where photography and videography are not allowed.

In a news release on Friday, ICA reiterated that checkpoints are its "first line of defence, and security checks are critical to safeguard Singapore’s security”.

It added: “Additional checks and/or interviews may be conducted, when necessary."

ICA also noted that there are clear signs to advise travellers on areas where photography and videography are restricted.

The agency said it will not hesitate to take firm action, in accordance with the law, against travellers who refuse to comply with the security checks.

The traveller subsequently apologised for his actions. “I deeply regret that my rant last Thursday about my recent experience at Changi had gone viral,” he wrote on Monday. “I have taken down the post and I seek for understanding and forgiveness for my post and the comments I made. I hope everyone can let this matter rest.”

Source: CNA

AIRSPACE: A recurring theme that troubles the relation between Indonesia and Singapore

Excerpt:
Indonesian politicians and military personnel have also called for Indonesia to ‘take back’ areas over Riau within Indonesian airspace which have formed part of the Singapore Flight Information Region (FIR) since 1946, when the International Civil Aviation Organization allocated the area to Singapore based on operational and technical considerations. 

The FIR assigned to Singapore includes some of the territorial airspace of Malaysia and Indonesia, and such overlaps are common in many parts of the world including Europe, Africa and South America. The Jakarta FIR, for example, also covers Timor Leste territorial airspace.

While the Indonesians argue that this is their sovereign right as it is part of their territorial airspace, Singapore has managed the FIR as a public good focusing on operational efficiency and the safety of navigation in increasingly crowded skies. 

The Indonesian media frequently misrepresents Singapore’s management of the FIR claiming that Singapore profits from air navigation charges, delays planes taking off or landing at Batam to accommodate Changi’s traffic and discriminates against Indonesian airlines in flight level allocation. None of this is true.

The fees collected by Singapore are remitted annually to Indonesia and there is proper accounting between the two countries while traffic movements are handled solely on the basis of operational efficiency. A former Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff even claimed that Singapore would be “destroyed” if Indonesia took over the FIR, simplistically concluding that Singapore’s role as an air transport hub would be undermined and our entire economy would be ruined.

http://bit.ly/1OKLRSA

The Trouble with Indonesia-Singapore Relations

The haze enveloping Singapore today highlights the significance of our bilateral relationship with Indonesia. Just as we cannot escape the devastating impact on our health of ‘slash-and-burn’ techniques to clear forested land in Sumatra for palm oil plantations, as neighbors, emerging trends in Indonesia will have an impact on Singapore.

Generally excellent bilateral ties during the years when President Suharto led Indonesia from 1967 to 1998 have been followed by more challenging interactions as Singapore adjusted to the rise of populist democracy in Indonesia. There has been a sharp increase in bilateral exchanges over the years, both at the political and business levels as well as a rise in tourism, increasing student and community exchanges, together with Singapore’s emergence as a major investor in Indonesia and growing bilateral trade. But there are undercurrents which should not be ignored.

Recurring Themes

As hotly contested regional elections take place in Indonesia in December 2015, there is a risk that Singapore will be a target of criticism in provincial and district (kabupaten) electoral campaigns in Sumatra, especially in areas where power holders have worked well with Singapore such as in Riau and Jambi. Their critics will highlight the willingness of these incumbents to subordinate Indonesia’s interests to the lure of Singapore’s cash and benefits. A younger generation of internet-savvy Indonesians are also likely to take nationalistic postures and criticisms of Singapore risk going viral.

A recurrent theme in our bilateral relationship has been the mix of envy, fear and suspicion in the minds of some quarters in Indonesia, which has colored their perceptions of Singapore. They feel that Singapore has succeeded at Indonesia’s expense and that tiny Singapore should be grateful for benefitting from Indonesia. Commenting on the haze, Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said, “for eleven months, [Singapore and Malaysia] enjoyed nice air from Indonesia and they never thanked us. They have suffered for one month because of the haze and they get upset”.

In dealing with Indonesia, we should anticipate such a ‘big brother’ mindset, even from circles in Indonesia generally friendly towards Singapore. While President B.J. Habibie’s ‘little red dot’ reference to Singapore in 1998 has achieved iconic status in Singapore, most Indonesians are unaware of the reference and of the original derogatory usage.

Underlying the approach of many Indonesian policymakers is the belief that Singapore has no natural resources and benefits from exploiting Indonesia. The self-image is that of Indonesia as a pretty girl courted by everyone at the party. It is not perceived as a relationship of equals but one where Singapore is dependent on Indonesia. Bilateral relations are challenging due to three reasons: bad air or the haze; airspace and assets.

First: bad air

In 2013, at the height of the haze season, then-Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono complained that “Singapore shouldn’t be behaving like a child and making all this noise”. He added that Indonesia would reject any Singapore offer of financial aid to assist in quelling the forest fires unless it was a large amount.

Singapore offered Indonesia a Haze Assistance Package including aircraft, helicopter, satellite imagery and Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) fire-fighting teams and equipment while requesting concession maps and names of errant companies so that we could take action against them. These requests have either been ignored or rejected.

When asked why Indonesia declined Singapore’s offer of assistance, the Minister of the Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, said that if the offer of assistance was for 40 planes, and not just one, then maybe the offer could be considered. Indonesia last week accepted offers of aid from foreign countries, including Singapore. But it has taken weeks to come to this position. The irony is that it is Indonesian citizens in Sumatra and Kalimantan who are feeling the worst effects of the forest fires.

Second: airspace

Indonesian politicians and military personnel have also called for Indonesia to ‘take back’ areas over Riau within Indonesian airspace which have formed part of the Singapore Flight Information Region (FIR) since 1946, when the International Civil Aviation Organization allocated the area to Singapore based on operational and technical considerations. The FIR assigned to Singapore includes some of the territorial airspace of Malaysia and Indonesia, and such overlaps are common in many parts of the world including Europe, Africa and South America. The Jakarta FIR, for example, also covers Timor Leste territorial airspace.

While the Indonesians argue that this is their sovereign right as it is part of their territorial airspace, Singapore has managed the FIR as a public good focusing on operational efficiency and the safety of navigation in increasingly crowded skies. The Indonesian media frequently misrepresents Singapore’s management of the FIR claiming that Singapore profits from air navigation charges, delays planes taking off or landing at Batam to accommodate Changi’s traffic and discriminates against Indonesian airlines in flight level allocation. None of this is true.

The fees collected by Singapore are remitted annually to Indonesia and there is proper accounting between the two countries while traffic movements are handled solely on the basis of operational efficiency. A former Indonesian Air Force Chief of Staff even claimed that Singapore would be “destroyed” if Indonesia took over the FIR, simplistically concluding that Singapore’s role as an air transport hub would be undermined and our entire economy would be ruined.

Third: assets and corruption

Indonesian politicians have also blamed Singapore for harbouring alleged Indonesian ‘corruptors’ and their ‘illegal funds’. In an interview on Indonesia’s proposed amnesty for financial crimes, the Minister of Finance Bambang Brodjonegoro, said: “We spend our time cursing corruptors but they are safe in Singapore.” He also cited a McKinsey study which estimated that the value of Indonesian assets in Singapore amounted to US$300 billion. Indonesian officials also claim that Singapore has obstructed their finance-related investigations.

When MAS announced that it would no longer issue the $10,000 note from October 2014 because of the risk associated with large-value cash transactions and high-value notes, Indonesian officials claimed that Singapore had given in to Indonesian “pressure”. Singapore has consistently and publicly refuted these allegations, and has in fact been assisting Indonesia’s investigation requests. But such claims will recur. The ability of alleged criminals to leave the country legally will be ignored. The Indonesian authorities have found it more convenient to blame others than deal with the real causes.

I had the experience of meeting a friend from my posting in Jakarta at the Nadaman restaurant in Singapore. He owed his creditors US$500 million and was a fugitive but had left Indonesia legally and was carrying a valid Indonesian passport. He left the restaurant after paying my bill with his diamond credit card! I was hosting some of my former colleagues and was surprised when I wanted to pay at the end of our meal so I asked the manager to see the bill. As the credit card was from one of his creditor banks, I concluded that we had all enjoyed the hospitality of his bankers!

This is not an isolated case. A tax official, Gayus Tambunan, who was convicted of tax evasion of 160 billion rupiah, was caught on camera watching an international tennis tournament in Bali in November 2010. He had earlier been seen shopping on Orchard Road with his wife, having travelled legally to Singapore. Relocated to a special prison in Bandung for those convicted for corruption, he was spotted having a meal at a restaurant in Jakarta recently!

 Regional spillovers

Singapore benefits when our neighbors enjoy political stability and economic growth. We want them to do well. However, we need to bear in mind that there are groups in Indonesia as well as Malaysia that do not share these sentiments. Their internal conflicts can also spill over into Singapore. As political contestation increases in Indonesia, Singapore has been an easy target to rally domestic support and deflect criticism. We cannot escape our neighborhood. A continuing foreign policy challenge will be to differentiate ourselves from our neighbors, even as we strive to get along with them.

 Barry Desker is Distinguished Fellow and Bakrie Professor of Southeast Asia Policy, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He served as Singapore’s Ambassador to Indonesia from 1986 to 1993. This article originally appeared as an RSIS commentary here and is republished with kind permission. 

 http://thediplomat.com/2015/10/the-trouble-with-indonesia-singapore-relations/?utm_content=buffer508f7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Singapore Is First Overall In The Global Dynamism Index

Singapore ranks 1st overall in the world in Grant Thornton’s Global Dynamism Index (2015 edition), up from 7 in the previous iteration of the index. 

However, the index also noted that Singapore's dynamism is held back by the reducing percentage of the population under 30 years of age.

Recall that Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say, and indeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had said during the election campaign that one key challenge facing Singapore is how to keep the economy dynamic in the face of an ageing population and a shrinking workforce. 

This is the challenge and the reality that Singapore faces, which the opposition parties have avoided addressing, choosing instead to focus on 6.9 million infrastructure planning parameter. 

Today Singapore is first overall. The challenge is how to maintain this dynamism in the face of the demograhic challenges we have. 

http://bit.ly/1hTGYIa

Crab Catcher On Pulau Ubin

There are now only 38 people still living Pulau Ubin, a far cry from the ‘50s and ‘70s when it had a flourishing population of almost 2,000 people.

Meet crab catcher Quek Kim Kiang, 63, who has lived on Pulau Ubin for the past two decades.

Every morning, Mr Quek Kim Kiang - or Ah Kiang as he is affectionately known - dons a pair of rubber fishing boots, grabs some steel hooks, hops onto his bike and heads towards the island’s dense mangrove forest.

Expertly, he navigated through conical-shaped mounds made by mud lobsters, past spindly roots that threaten to trip unwary visitors, and hacked through leafy branches with a well-worn blade.

Using a hooking method, Mr Quek patiently pried a crab out of a hole where it was hiding - all this while planting his feet deep in the mud. He did this over the next four to five hours, as he went to various spots on the island in search of the crustaceans. It is all in a day’s work for Mr Quek, who sells crabs for S$25 a kilogramme. After a day’s catch, the 63-year-old bachelor - who has lived on the island for the past two decades - heads to one of his two homes: A hut located along the main jetty, or another one built on a fishing platform.

On some afternoons, he whiles away time, tossing back a beer or two with friends. On Saturdays, his friends arrive from the mainland to visit him, and they do gardening and exercise together. Possessing a wide knowledge on crabs, Mr Quek willingly dishes out - to anyone who would listen - various tidbits on why these creatures thrive in mangrove forests, how to locate them, and even their breeding patterns.

In fact, he has taken a young “disciple” under his wing - a nine-year-old-boy who was so impressed by his skill in hooking crabs that he asked for his father’s permission to learn from Mr Quek. He has since brought the boy along with him several times, but avoids places where poisonous snakes lurk. Said Mr Quek, with a grin: “He’s still a bit too young, he’s not strong enough yet to go running around in the forests with me … I think give it a few more years.”

For now, Mr Quek nurses hopes of one day leading his own mangrove guided tours. He has even thought of wet weather plans: When it rains, he will invite groups over to his backyard and regale them with tales of the island’s history. “Not many know about mangrove forests … Some visitors may see it as dirty, or feel there’s nothing special about it … But inside, there are many hidden treasures, and every time I go in, I find new things to discover.”

The Joke Is On Goh Meng Seng

If you oppose for the sake of opposition, not only will logic fail you, even the facts will escape you. 

That's how it is with Goh Meng Seng. 

Does he not realize that the public nuisance charge has got to do with heckling a charity event, and not the mere act of shouting slogans and making noise per se during a protest? 

Does he not realize that Hong Lim Park is not designated solely as a 'funeral parlour' but it can and has been used for other events also such as the Purple Parade and Pink Dot, just to name two? 

Does he not know that the YMCA charity event had been planned months ahead and approval given before Han Hui Hui decided to hold her protest on the same day?

Does he not know that different areas were assigned to the two events that day and that Roy Ngerng and Han Hui Hui had led the protesters away from their own assigned area to enter the area for the charity event thus making a nuisance of themselves and frightening the children? 

The joke is on Goh Meng Seng. Really.

http://on.fb.me/1ZOhYEC

Trains stalled? It could be balloon's fault.

Did you know that your shiny, metallic helium balloons could disrupt MRT train services?
One such disruption did happen on April 6 last year. 

In that incident, train services on the NEL were disrupted for close to an hour in both directions between Farrer Park and Boon Keng stations due to a power trip.

What happened was that a passenger had accidentally released an aluminium foil helium balloon, which slipped into the tunnel at Boon Keng Station when the platform screen doors were opened.

The balloon then came into contact with an electrical insulator of the overhead catenary system - the power supply system installed on the ceiling of the train tunnel - and caused an electrical fault.

Said Professor Liew Ah Choy from the National University of Singapore's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department: "The aluminium foil is an electrical conductor and when it comes into contact with the live overhead wires a short circuit occurs. This would trigger the circuit breakers to trip, to prevent further damage to the electrical equipment."

The 16-station NEL is the only MRT line here powered by overhead catenary systems instead of a power-supplying rail on the ground.

Posters have recently been put up at stations on the North East Line (NEL) to remind commuters to hold on tightly to their balloons.

http://on.fb.me/1W0F4s5

Life Expectancy and Retirement

Why your CPF is important for retirement

Singaporeans are living longer lives. 

Among those turning 65 years old today, one in two will live beyond 85, and one in three beyond 90.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN

Women's average life expectancy at age 65 is three years longer than men's.

With a smaller family structure, one can also expect little financial support from family members. Hence the need and importance to build up one's retirement savings to ensure they last longer.
http://bit.ly/1LyPJU1

http://on.fb.me/1jNVgeN

HOW MUCH MONEY WILL BE NEEDED IN RETIREMENT AND WHERE WILL IT COME FROM?

HSBC conducted a series of independent global studies into The Future of Retirement.

Among the questions, respondents were asked how long they expected to live in retirement and also how long they expect their savings to last. 

The findings reveal that on average, Singapore respondents expect their retirement to last for 17 years but their retirement savings to last for an average of just 9.

Report: http://bit.ly/1LUcyUn

http://on.fb.me/1W0EP06

JAILED 8 TIMES AND NOW A MANAGER at South-east Asia's first prison call centre, set up by prison authorities as part of the Yellow Ribbon Project to help ex-offenders find jobs to re-integrate into society.

Angel Ng, 50, was in and out of jail for drug offences between 1982 and 2008. She now manages three call centres which hire ex-offenders. 

Her story:

Being in and out of jail so many times since I was 17 did not scare me off prison life. Being in prison was no big deal; some prisoners wanted to return to prison because they found that better than having to face society.

In 1994, two weeks after I gave birth to my only child, Valerie, I was jailed yet again.
I'm aggressive and argumentative by nature and I always had the spirit of buay sai see (must not die in Hokkien).

But this time, I had post-natal depression, missed my baby and was worried about how my mother, who'd just been told she had cervical cancer, would cope with bringing up Valerie.
One day, when I was punished with solitary confinement, I thought: "I've been such a burden to my mother, and I can't change. It's best to end it all." 

I took a metal spike from the toilet brush and cut my wrists... The wardens saved me.
But I was still not motivated to change my ways. I just wanted to damage myself completely because I had a deep anger against the world for being unwanted from birth.

Every time I was released from prison, I could work only in nightclubs where I was always with people in the drugs business. I had no one to tell me how to break this self-destructive cycle. 

While in prison, at the age of 33, I studied for the O levels and scored five straight A1s in subjects like English literature and history.

In 2003, when I was 38 and had started serving my longest-ever prison sentence - 8 1/2 years, later reduced to six years - I began reading books on religion and philosophy from the prison library.

Age was catching up with me. I thought: "I can't keep living like this."

The following year, I learnt that the prison authorities were starting South-east Asia's first prison call centre, as part of the Yellow Ribbon Project that had just been set up to help ex-offenders find jobs to re-integrate into society.

I wanted to work there because it was a white-collar job for which I had to use only my voice, and not my appearance. So I'd be able to work till I was very old.

In 2006, I got a job there selling health supplements. Within three months, I was the centre's top seller.

I was released from my last prison term on Nov 11, 2008 and a week later, began working at Connect Centre's headquarters outside the prison. It's been a big learning experience and it has taken me to new places.

The government could give ex-offenders more help in resolving real-life concerns. In prison they don't have to pay bills or wash their clothes. Meals are provided. But on their release, everything is money and responsibility. 

Most newly released ex-offenders have no money, so Connect gives them $10 a day for meals until they get their first month's pay of about $1,000.

They need to stay focused by holding a steady job because that disciplines and stabilises them.

I tell them: "Commit to your job. Don't look for loopholes. After work, spend time with your family.

"Contribute to your family's expenses or buy them small things they like. That's how you regain their trust."

Today my daughter teaches children with severe autism at the Asian Women's Welfare Association. I'm glad she has a caring heart and a sense of responsibility.

- From the book, Living The Singapore Story: Celebrating Our 50 Years 1965-2015.

Hong Lim Heckling

As the trial of Han Hui Hui continues, we look back at the day the heckling occurred. Many of the special needs children were affected. Witness Ms Seah said that the protest was 'teetering on violence'.

http://on.fb.me/1MxlCcf

Not A Joking Matter When The Wrongdoer Cries Foul

It's not a joking matter when a person, who cannot see her wrongdoing in heckling a charity event, and tries to push the blame to NParks officers for allowing the charity event, was also a candidate for the last general election. 

To believe that Ms Low has been unjustly charged with being a public nuisance BECAUSE NParks allowed the charity event is to believe that Ms Low (and those charged with her) has no control over her behaviour and no choice but to do what they did that day.

http://on.fb.me/1jNXxXw

SLEEP AND DEMENTIA

Notice how you become forgetful if you do not get enough sleep? 

Well, sleep is important to help clear from your brain the accumulation of metabolite, the 'junk' that develops when your brain processes the energy it needs. 

This 'junk' is linked to Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia that can result in extreme forgetfulness.

The rate of clearance of this junk is six times during sleep compared to when a person is awake. And when a person gets older, the ability to clear this junk also diminishes. 

Sleep expert Prof Michael Chee warns that people in their 30s and 40s who are not getting enough sleep could find themselves with dementia by their 60s.

"If you are sleep-deprived, the rate of clearance of beta amyloids is reduced, so you have more junk floating around in the brain," said Prof Chee. It is like having a blocked sewage system in the brain. As the sewage piles up, there comes a time when there is so much that it does damage to the brain.

So don't let the internet deprive you of sleep. Spend less time on social media and get that precious sleep.

 http://on.fb.me/1W0G6UU

Singapore - a super aged society by 2026

Singapore - a super aged society by 2026 according to the United Nations World Population Prospects (UNWPP).

1 in 5 persons (or 1,258,441) in the country will be aged 65 or above. 

When Singapore gained independence in 1965, only 2.65 per cent of the population, or 49,757, were aged 65 or above.

The median age will exceed 44.9 (from only 18.1 in 1965) — meaning that half of the population will be at least 44.9 years old.

Drastic improvements in life expectancy and a sharp fall in the nation’s birth rate have led to rapid population ageing. Between 1965 and 2014, life expectancy jumped by 16.1 years, while the birth rate fell from 29.0 births per 1,000 population to only 9.1. The net result is a fast-ageing population.

Furthermore, this trend is unlikely to be reversed anytime soon as life expectancy is projected to climb even further while the birth rate is expected to continue falling. Belying the country’s Jubilee this year, Singapore is sitting on a demographic time bomb.

Apart from the sheer number of senior citizens in the coming decades, the rate at which Singapore is ageing is also remarkable. From 7 per cent in 1999 to 20 per cent of the population in 2026, Singapore will go from being an ageing to a super-aged society in just 27 years.

Japan, China, Germany and the United States — countries that are also undergoing ageing — took or will take 36, 32, 76 and 86 years to make that transition, respectively. Compared with them, Singapore is not only ageing rapidly, it is doing so at a greater speed. More importantly, it also implies that the country will have less time to prepare itself for the looming “silver tsunami”.

Singapore has always counted on its human capital for national development, but at current fertility and mortality rates, the population will start shrinking as early as 2030 with zero migration. (If normal migration flow is held, the population will begin shrinking in 2047.)
To survive the next 50 years, the country needs innovative solutions to defuse this demographic time bomb.

 

What are the implications? 

The Government will be under pressure to increase spending on elderly care against a backdrop of competing demands for finite public resources. If more of the national budget is allocated to elderly care, less might become available for defence or education, for example. One solution is to shift the fiscal burden to the younger population in the form of higher taxation.

However, this risks intergenerational inequity and even tensions when the political power (in terms of voting number) of the younger population declines vis-a-vis the larger older population. In 1965, the old-age dependency ratio in Singapore was 4.9; by 2026, it is projected to hit 30.1 — for every 100 working age adults, 30.1 will be dependents.

An ageing population will also lead to a reduction in the nation’s military strength. The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) is made up of mostly male conscripts and the number of 18-year-old males had already peaked in 2012 at 37,619. By 2026, the number of 18-year-old males is expected to fall to only about 32,050 and when the total population starts to shrink in 2047, the number will have fallen to just 29,906 — a reduction of 20.5 per cent from its peak.

A shrinking population also hampers economic growth by reducing the supply of young labour to the economy. As the labour force contracts, national output will fall unless there are significant gains in labour productivity. Consisting of those aged between 25 and 49, the core labour force in Singapore is expected to peak in 2020 at 2,147,231 workers and by 2047, will witness a shortfall of 341,570 workers — a 15.9 per cent drop — from its height. For a country that spends 3 to 5 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence annually, slower economic growth will impact military expenditure, too.

The current measures to care for the aged neither scale very well nor consider the desire of many to age within their own communities. Many of the technologies being deployed under the Smart Nation initiative will help senior citizens to age safely in their own homes while enabling them to receive help from their own support network. Telemedicine — the use of cutting-edge information communication technology and self-administered medical gadgets to provide remote medical diagnosis, treatment and care — will end non-essential visits to the hospital for senior citizens. Meanwhile, autonomous vehicles will enhance their mobility when they do need to travel.

Between 1999 and 2013, Singapore’s health expenditure rose from 2.8 to 4.6 per cent of GDP, according to the World Bank. Much of this increase can be attributed to a contemporaneous twofold jump in the number of people aged 65 or above; however, by leveraging on certain disruptive technologies, future increases in health expenditure can be contained. For instance, a new class of biotech drugs called biosimilars are 20 to 30 per cent cheaper than their biologic counterparts, but just as effective and safe. Already prescribed in Europe and Australia, biosimilars make difficult and expensive treatments more affordable. Together with telemedicine and generic drugs, biosimilars can help to contain rising healthcare spending.

As the population shrinks, it is also vital to ensure that the economy continues to prosper and the SAF’s fighting capability is not compromised. With rapid advances in “deep learning” systems, advanced robotics that can outperform humans in some tasks will soon become a reality. McKinsey Global Institute estimates that by 2025, automatons could produce the output of 110 to 140 million full-time equivalents so it is conceivable that super-smart robots might one day address the shortfall in our population. From being caregivers to labourers to sentries, automatons could well be ubiquitous in the future.

While severe, rapid ageing need not spell the end for Singapore. Indeed, it presents real opportunities, too. Singapore is not the only ageing society in the world — many are. With a global Silver Economy estimated by Merrill Lynch at US$15 trillion (S$20.9 trillion) by 2020, the first-mover advantages and lessons learnt from the application of emerging technology to tackle ageing will be invaluable when Singapore spreads its knowledge. That Singapore experience will be something special in the next 50 years.

* Dr Tan Teck Boon is a research fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at Nanyang Technological University.

Trial of Han Hui Hui For Being A Public Nuisance

The fact that people like Han Hui Hui, Low Wai Choo and Roy Ngerng had even stood for election to be voices and representatives 'for' Singaporeans sends the chill down your spine. 

So Roy Ngerng had pleaded guilty to the charge brought against him for his role in the Hong Lim incident last year and was fined. Han Hui Hui and her co-accused, Low Wai Choo, Goh Aik Huat, and Koh Yew Beng are standing trial. 

One year after the heckling of the YMCA event by protestors led by Roy Ngerng and Han Hui Hui, a special needs performer is still traumatized by the experience, breaking down in tears when asked about it. 

The court was told by a witness that the performance by the Y-Stars had to be stopped and restarted because the performers could not hear the start of the music. 

Han Hui Hui's line of questioning: 

She asked the witness why she had allowed her son to perform during a protest. 

She also wondered if the performer still crying after one year was because “she realised she was being made use of by the PAP government”. 

She asked another witness if she thought the YMCA did a good job with the event. The witness likened the protesters' actions during the charity event to bringing á coffin around during a wedding.

 http://on.fb.me/1GcPyxI

MYSTERY of the Hepatitis C virus spread

MYSTERY of the Hepatitis C virus spread: Why the experts are still racking their brains

IT IS A VIRUS THAT DOES NOT SPREAD EASILY

(1) It is not airborne.
(2) It cannot be spread through social contact, sharing of utensils or drinking from the same glass or through food or water.
(3) It is generally transmitted by blood or blood products. 

WHY CHANCES OF SPREAD THROUGH CONTAMINATED BLOOD IS VERY MINUSCULE

Not only does the blood bank take great care, but also
(1) not all the infected patients had a blood transfusion.
(2) They were from different blood groups, and would not be receiving blood from the same donor.

WHY SPREAD THROUGH DIALYSIS MACHINE IS RULED OUT

(1) Infected patients had used different machines, and
(2) other patients using those machines were not infected.

WHY THE HOSPITAL CANNOT CONFIRM IF CAUSE IS MULTI-DOSING

With one vial shared by about three patients, in order to infect more than 20 patients, a fairly large number of vials would need to be contaminated.

Nevertheless the hospital has removed multi-dosing as an extra precaution. 

Investigations are ongoing and SGH is not ruling out any possibility including foul play.
Meanwhile, liver specialist Dr Desmond Wai was surprised that at least four people are suspected to have died within months of being infected with hepatitis C.

Reason: 

The Hepatitis C virus is not a virus that kills quickly. For healthy people it would take at least 20 years to cause liver damage. For those with a weakened immune system - such as kidney failure patients it would take at least 5 to 10 years to develop severe liver damage, according to liver specialist Dr Desmond Wai. 

The only exception, he said, is a rare and aggressive strain of the virus known as fibrosing cholestatic hepatitis C.

"But this is very rare," he stressed. "In more than 20 years of practice, I've seen only two cases."

"Frankly speaking, this disease does not kill," he said. "We need to wait for more information from the Ministry of Health before we know what is going on."

How Did Singapore Universities Become World-class - according to a visiting NUS Professor

When the Singapore government decides to do something, it never goes halfway. They figure out what resources it will take, and they spend them. And if something simply takes time, no matter what the resource cost, then they (the government) also has a lot of patience. Having consistent political leadership for 50 years will do that. They decided they wanted NUS and NTU to be world-class universities, just the same way they decided, say, that they wanted a subway system that was second to none. There is so little corruption in the Singapore government that it is possible to allocate money to something and not have most of it siphoned off by bureaucrats with bad comb-overs and incredibly generous pension plans. So when the government decides to spend money on education, it (gasp) actually goes to education.

Also, I have noticed some quality controls on the teaching that go beyond what I've seen at other universities. They treat education the way they would treat a manufacturing process. Use quality control; measure everything; fix problems as soon as they are discovered; please the customer; show zero tolerance for lousy teaching; treat course descriptions as a legally binding contract for what will be learned by those who take the course and apply themselves.
When professors create final exams, their exams are scrutinized and approved by independent reviewers before they can be given to students.

When they decide which courses to offer, they have one faculty member decide what needs to be taught, and a different faculty member decide who should teach that course, like a separation-of-powers principle.

They bring in external review committees to look at what they teach and how they teach, and solicit critical input that they take to heart. I know other universities use external review committees as well, but when NUS does it, they pick reviewers whose academic credentials have earned them biographical entries in Wikipedia.

I spoke to one such reviewer, Ed Lazowska, when he was here recently to review the NUS Computer Science Department. He told me he could not believe the resources available at NUS. When they decide they need something, they simply go and get it. The endless quibbling over budgets and “turf” that pervades universities in the USA is nowhere to be seen here.

There is also a culture throughout Singapore that being in a STEM (science/technology/engineering/mathematics) field makes you normal, not a geek. They don’t even make jokes here about nerds and geeks, and if you did, people wouldn't understand the humor.
It’s amazing how fast universities can excel when they are freed from politics, both internal and external. I think that is what has happened at NUS and NTU.

Full article here:  http://bit.ly/1RiqG7Z

The Demographic Challenge

 

 

To Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the demograpic facts are so simple and stark he wonders how anyone can fail to see the obvious...

Excerpt from Hard Truths:

Lee is deeply disturbed about the impact of a rapidly ageing population on Singapore's future. It is an issue that strikes close to home. He is, after all, keenly aware of the personal limits of being an octogenarian.

During one of our meetings on this subject, he strode into the room wearing a pair of trainers which he called pumps. About 4 weeks earlier he had fallen from his exercise bike and sprained his thigh. "It's four weeks and I'm still not fully recovered," he said plainly. "I'm not all right but it's getting better, so I got to wear these pumps because they are more comfortable. It'll eventually recover. But as you age, it takes longer to recover."

Already, many elderly people were wheelchair-bound, bedridden or need 24-hour care, he said. "We're going to have many more such people. We can't have all of them in institutions. At home, you've got to provide home care, home-nursing, visit every day or every two, three days, help the family to look after him, change dressing or medication, whatever. It's going to be a huge problem."

Ref: http://bit.ly/1R28aB8

Indonesia's Contribution To Global Warming

This year's haze which has blanketed Malaysia, Singapore and large expanses of Indonesia is on a trajectory similar to 1997 - widely regarded as the most serious haze event on record - and could exceed those unprecedented levels according to Robert Field, a Columbia University scientist based at Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

"If the forecasts for a longer dry season hold, this suggests 2015 will rank among the most severe events on record."

Herry Purnomo, a haze expert at the Indonesia-based Centre for International Forestry Research, agreed the situation was akin to 1997, describing the magnitude of this year's fires as "horrendous".

The fires also contribute significantly to climate change. The Nasa-linked Global Fire Emissions Database has estimated around 600 million tonnes of greenhouse gases have been released as a result of this year's fires - roughly equivalent to Germany's entire annual output.

Our Demographic Challenge: Citizen-Old Age Support Ratio

A Shrinking and Ageing Population and Workforce

Currently there are 4.9 working citizens supporting on elderly citizen aged 65 and above, down from 7.2 a decade ago.

At current birth rates and without immigration, our citizen population will begin to shrink around 2025.

By 2030 the number of elderly citizens will triple to 900,000 and there will only be 2.1 working-age citizens for each citizen aged 65 and above.

As more citizens retire and with fewer entering the working-age band, the number of working-age citizens will start to shrink by around 2020.

We will feel the impact of this in many ways.

We will see a REVERSAL OF THE TYPICAL FAMILY STRUCTURE.

Today, we generally have a few elderly members of the family with a larger number in the younger generations. By 2030, this family structure is likely to reverse itself with more elderly members than younger ones, as we live longer and each successive generation becomes smaller.

For society as a whole, a declining old-age support ratio points towards an INCREASING TAX AND ECONOMIC BURDEN ON OUR WORKING-AGE POPULATION.

A shrinking and ageing population could also mean a less vibrant and innovative economy.

There will be a shrinking customer base in Singapore, and companies may not be able to find adequate manpower. Multinational companies may therefore choose not to set up operations in Singapore, and Singapore-based businesses may down-size, close down or relocate.

As a result, we could see slower business activity and fewer career options that will match the higher aspirations of Singaporeans.

With an increasingly educated and mobile population, more of our young people could choose to leave for other exciting global cities, hollowing out our population and workforce, and worsening our old-age support ratio.