Amid news of the threat posed by COVID-19 to an already ailing global economy plagued by the US-China trade war and deglobalisation, the announcements made by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat when he delivered the Budget 2020 speech on February 18 brought a ray of hope to workers as the outlook for jobs in the near future looked bleak.
Read More >Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim
A Budget 2020 Wish List for Social Development
The difficulty in coming up with a budget wish list when one is in the social service sector is that it would almost certainly entail proposals that would add to government expenditure. It would be ingenious to achieve the goal of uplifting the quality of life of the disadvantaged and the vulnerable through saving.
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National Day Rally Speech 2019: The Goodies and the Problems
Prime Minister (PM) Lee Hsien Loong delivered his seventh consecutive National Day Rally (NDR) speech this year at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College Central. The annual speech was moved to the present venue in 2013 after nine years at the National University of Singapore’s University Cultural Centre, underscoring PM Lee’s “longstanding commitment to investing in every Singaporean to his full potential” and to emphasise that “Singapore is at a turning point”.
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Is Justice by Online Mob a Threat?
When National University of Singapore (NUS) student Monica Baey learnt that a voyeur, a fellow NUS student, who filmed her showering was “let off” with a 12-month conditional warning by the police and a semester’s suspension by NUS, she was appalled. She posted a series of stories on Instagram that went viral.
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A Prime Minister in the Making: Will Heng’s Open, Consultative Style Take Off?
On 23 April 2019, the long wait for a clear indication as to who would be Singapore’s next Prime Minister (PM) seemed to be over. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) announced that Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat will be promoted to Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) as part of the latest changes to the Cabinet.
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SG Budget 2019: The Vision of a Caring and Inclusive Society
The Singapore Budget 2019 outlined a strategic plan to allocate resources to build a “Strong, United Singapore”. To realise this vision, among other objectives such as keeping Singapore safe and secure, transforming our economy into a vibrant and innovative one, and building a global city, is the aspiration of building a caring and inclusive society.
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The Bicentennial and the Layperson
Those who have gone through the Singapore education system may recall having studied history at least at the lower secondary level. Some of the key names or words associated with the early history of Singapore they would be familiar with are Sang Nila Utama, Temasek, the “lion”1, orang laut, fishing village, Stamford Raffles and William Farquhar
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Infertility: Myths And Realities
Not everyone dreams of becoming a parent but, for those who do, failing to conceive is an agonising realisation. There are couples who spend a portion of their married lives attempting to avoid unplanned pregnancies and assume that, once they are ready to conceive, it will occur with little difficulty.
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