THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT
Imagine the peace from a surprise handshake
By Thomas L. Friedman
THE Middle East is experiencing something we haven't seen in a long, long time: moderates getting their act together a little, taking tentative stands and pushing back on the bad guysIf all that sounds kind of, sort of, maybe, qualified, well it is. But in a region in which extremists go all the way and the moderates just go away, it's the first good news in years - an oasis in a desert of despair.
The only problem is that this tentative march of the moderates - which has just received a useful boost with the Annapolis peace gathering - is driven largely by fear, not by any shared vision of a region where Sunni and Shi'ite, Arab and Jew, trade, interact, collaborate and compromise in the way that countries in South-east Asia have learnt to do for their mutual benefit.
So far, 'this is the peace of the afraid', said Mr Hisham Melhem, Washington bureau chief of Al-Arabiya, a satellite news channel.
Fear can be a potent motivator. Fear of Al-Qaeda running their lives finally got the Sunni tribes of Iraq to rise up against the pro-Qaeda Sunnis, even to the point of siding with the US. Fear of Shi'ite thugs in the Iranian-backed Mahdi Army has prompted many more Shi'ites in Iraq to side with the pro-US Iraqi government and army.
Fear of a Hamas takeover has driven Fatah into a tighter working relationship with Israel. And fear of spreading Iranian influence has all the Arab states - particularly Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan - working in even closer coordination with America and in tacit cooperation with Israel.
Fear of Fatah collapsing, and of Israel inheriting responsibility for the West Bank's Palestinian population forever, has brought Israel back to Washington's negotiating table.
Fear of isolation even brought Syria to Annapolis.
But fear of predators can only take you so far. To build a durable peace, it takes a shared agenda and a willingness by moderates to work together to support one another and help each other beat back the extremists in each camp. It takes something that has been sorely lacking since the deaths of Egypt's Anwar Sadat, Israeli's Yitzhak Rabin and Menachem Begin as well as King Hussein of Jordan: a certain moral courage to do something 'surprising'.
Since 2000, the only people who have surprised us are the bad guys. Each week they have surprised us with new ways and places to kill people. The moderates, by contrast, have been surprise-free - until Iraq's Sunni tribes took on Al-Qaeda. What I'll be looking for in the near future is whether the moderates can surprise each other and surprise the extremists.
The Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, announced even before he arrived at Annapolis that there would be no handshakes with any Israelis. Too bad.
A handshake alone is not going to get Israel to give back the West Bank. But a surprising gesture of humanity, like a simple handshake from a Saudi leader to an Israeli leader, would actually go a long way towards convincing Israelis that there is something new here, that it's not just about the Arabs being afraid of Iran, but that they're actually willing to coexist with Israel.
Ditto Israel. Why not surprise Palestinians with a generous gesture on prisoners or roadblocks? Has the stingy old way worked so well?
The Israeli-Palestinian peace process has been so starved of emotional content since the Rabin assassination that it has no connection to average people any more. It's just words - a bunch of gobbledygook about 'road maps'.
The Saudis are experts at telling America it has to be more serious. Is it too much to ask the Saudis to make the job a little easier by shaking an Israeli leader's hand?
The other surprise we need is moderates going all the way.
Moderates who are not willing to risk political suicide to achieve their ends are never going to defeat extremists who are willing to commit physical suicide.
The reason that Rabin and Sadat were so threatening to extremists is because they were moderates ready to go all the way - a rare breed.
I understand that no leader today wants to stick his neck out. They have reason to be afraid, but they have no reason to believe they'll make history any other way.
President George W. Bush said in opening the Annapolis conference that this was not the end of something, but a new beginning of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. You won't need a Middle East expert to explain to you whether it's working. If you just read the headlines in the coming months and your eyes glaze over, then, as Israeli columnist Nahum Barnea put it to me, you'll know that Annapolis turned the ignition key 'on a car with four flat tyres'.
But if you pick up the newspaper and see Arab and Israeli moderates doing things that surprise you, and you hear yourself exclaiming, 'Wow, I've never seen that before!', you'll know we're going somewhere.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Malaysian riots - causes
Nov 29, 2007
KL's season of discontent
POPULAR discontent among Malaysians is not unusual for the nation's weighted multiracial construct. But a troubling trend has emerged lately of citizen activism that hints at more than surface dissatisfaction. Two big street protests in Kuala Lumpur this month captured attention not for the thousands of participants they drew in defiance of police prohibitions, but for what a public show of anger in times of stress could portend. When the people are feeling the pinch from rising food and fuel prices, all manner of buried annoyances - unequal opportunities, political featherbedding, police corruption, crime, declining pubic university standards and poor job fit - come to the fore. The first rally two weeks ago featuring advocacy groups besides political parties pressed for electoral reform. The objective was uncharacteristic of a flourishing democracy, but this was still an eye-opener. Federal elections in Malaysia are relatively untainted by unsavoury practices. These have never needed the endorsement of international observers to be so regarded. Indeed, the government dismissed the rally as a contrived challenge to embarrass and pressure the Barisan Nasional (BN) governing coalition. But this ought to be subject to what party strategists will make of the strained national mood, with elections thought likely to be called soon. They would not want to be caught unawares. BN remains Malaysia's stabilising force.
The second protest last Sunday carried a much more serious political undertone of Indian grievances. The rally was in support of a Hindu activist group's court action against the British Crown for alleged exploitation and neglect of Indians in colonial-era Malaya. Nobody need pretend: The target audience was Putrajaya and Umno. This was a 21st- century political harangue. The government has treated the protest variously as an act of irrelevance and as racial incitement. It maintains that Indian interests are well represented within the coalition by the Malaysian Indian Congress. Regardless, the impulse to ignore troubling signs should be resisted.
Indians complain they have been left on the fringe in employment, education and business. They are disproportionately represented in violent crime and poor scholastic rates. This has partly been a result of the plantation sector being decimated when Malaysia industrialised. Indian families to whom rubber estates were a generational home were not helped adequately to navigate the transition to a post-agrarian economy. The harvest three decades on has been bitter. Away from the glare of public challenge, the coalition partners owe it to themselves and the nation to deal honestly with the issues, free of cant and preconceived notions.
KL's season of discontent
POPULAR discontent among Malaysians is not unusual for the nation's weighted multiracial construct. But a troubling trend has emerged lately of citizen activism that hints at more than surface dissatisfaction. Two big street protests in Kuala Lumpur this month captured attention not for the thousands of participants they drew in defiance of police prohibitions, but for what a public show of anger in times of stress could portend. When the people are feeling the pinch from rising food and fuel prices, all manner of buried annoyances - unequal opportunities, political featherbedding, police corruption, crime, declining pubic university standards and poor job fit - come to the fore. The first rally two weeks ago featuring advocacy groups besides political parties pressed for electoral reform. The objective was uncharacteristic of a flourishing democracy, but this was still an eye-opener. Federal elections in Malaysia are relatively untainted by unsavoury practices. These have never needed the endorsement of international observers to be so regarded. Indeed, the government dismissed the rally as a contrived challenge to embarrass and pressure the Barisan Nasional (BN) governing coalition. But this ought to be subject to what party strategists will make of the strained national mood, with elections thought likely to be called soon. They would not want to be caught unawares. BN remains Malaysia's stabilising force.
The second protest last Sunday carried a much more serious political undertone of Indian grievances. The rally was in support of a Hindu activist group's court action against the British Crown for alleged exploitation and neglect of Indians in colonial-era Malaya. Nobody need pretend: The target audience was Putrajaya and Umno. This was a 21st- century political harangue. The government has treated the protest variously as an act of irrelevance and as racial incitement. It maintains that Indian interests are well represented within the coalition by the Malaysian Indian Congress. Regardless, the impulse to ignore troubling signs should be resisted.
Indians complain they have been left on the fringe in employment, education and business. They are disproportionately represented in violent crime and poor scholastic rates. This has partly been a result of the plantation sector being decimated when Malaysia industrialised. Indian families to whom rubber estates were a generational home were not helped adequately to navigate the transition to a post-agrarian economy. The harvest three decades on has been bitter. Away from the glare of public challenge, the coalition partners owe it to themselves and the nation to deal honestly with the issues, free of cant and preconceived notions.
Deadly bomb attacks in Sri Lanka
Deadly bomb attacks in Sri Lanka - 28 Nov 2007 BBC
At least 16 people have been killed in a bomb explosion in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, the military says.
At least 37 were also injured in the blast, which hit the city's busy Nugegoda district.
The bomb went off outside a clothing shop, after a guard reportedly tried to open a suspicious parcel.
The blast came just hours after a suicide bomber killed one person and hurt two in Colombo. Officials blamed the two attacks on Tamil Tiger rebels.
They took place a day after Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran described hopes for peace as naive, after increased fighting in the north.
The Tigers say that more than 20 civilians, most of them children, were killed in two attacks by the military in the north on Tuesday.
Burning bus
The second blast occurred just outside the four-storey clothing shop during the evening rush hour
Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said the explosion occurred after a security guard at the complex spotted a suspicious parcel and tried to handle it.
A bus caught fire as a result of the explosion, the defence ministry said.
There are fears that the death toll could rise further. Police are currently searching rubble for more bodies.
Mangled and charred motorcycle and taxi parts were scattered nearby.
"I was on the top floor of a shoe shop with my wife and child when I heard a big blast and there were glass pieces all over us," local resident A Jayasena told the Associated Press.
Recent rebel attacks on civilian targets of this scale have been rare, but bombings causing mass casualties have been a feature of Sri Lanka's conflict in the past.
In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew herself up outside the offices of Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, who escaped unharmed, officials said.
He is the leader of a rival Tamil movement, the Eelam People's Democratic Party.
BBC South Asia correspondent Chris Morris says Mr Devananda is a bitter opponent of the Tigers and has been targeted by them before.
Mr Devananda's personal secretary and two security staff were injured by the explosion. The secretary later died in hospital.
Officials said the suicide bomber was a disabled woman who mingled with crowds outside the government building before detonating her device.
'Genocidal'
The Tamil Tigers said that at least 11 of those killed in the north on Tuesday were schoolchildren whose bus hit a mine laid by the military. The army denied responsibility.
Nine others died when the Tigers' radio station was bombed, the rebels said.
In a broadcast speech, Prabhakaran said it was naive to believe peace was possible with any of the parties in the Sinhalese-dominated south.
Since his last address the Tigers have been driven from the east of the country and are under pressure in areas of the north that they still control.
A Norwegian-brokered ceasefire in 2002 broke down two years ago, resulting in renewed fighting that has killed more than 5,000 people.
At least 70,000 people have died since the war began in 1983.
At least 16 people have been killed in a bomb explosion in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, the military says.
At least 37 were also injured in the blast, which hit the city's busy Nugegoda district.
The bomb went off outside a clothing shop, after a guard reportedly tried to open a suspicious parcel.
The blast came just hours after a suicide bomber killed one person and hurt two in Colombo. Officials blamed the two attacks on Tamil Tiger rebels.
They took place a day after Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran described hopes for peace as naive, after increased fighting in the north.
The Tigers say that more than 20 civilians, most of them children, were killed in two attacks by the military in the north on Tuesday.
Burning bus
The second blast occurred just outside the four-storey clothing shop during the evening rush hour
Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said the explosion occurred after a security guard at the complex spotted a suspicious parcel and tried to handle it.
A bus caught fire as a result of the explosion, the defence ministry said.
There are fears that the death toll could rise further. Police are currently searching rubble for more bodies.
Mangled and charred motorcycle and taxi parts were scattered nearby.
"I was on the top floor of a shoe shop with my wife and child when I heard a big blast and there were glass pieces all over us," local resident A Jayasena told the Associated Press.
Recent rebel attacks on civilian targets of this scale have been rare, but bombings causing mass casualties have been a feature of Sri Lanka's conflict in the past.
In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew herself up outside the offices of Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, who escaped unharmed, officials said.
He is the leader of a rival Tamil movement, the Eelam People's Democratic Party.
BBC South Asia correspondent Chris Morris says Mr Devananda is a bitter opponent of the Tigers and has been targeted by them before.
Mr Devananda's personal secretary and two security staff were injured by the explosion. The secretary later died in hospital.
Officials said the suicide bomber was a disabled woman who mingled with crowds outside the government building before detonating her device.
'Genocidal'
The Tamil Tigers said that at least 11 of those killed in the north on Tuesday were schoolchildren whose bus hit a mine laid by the military. The army denied responsibility.
Nine others died when the Tigers' radio station was bombed, the rebels said.
In a broadcast speech, Prabhakaran said it was naive to believe peace was possible with any of the parties in the Sinhalese-dominated south.
Since his last address the Tigers have been driven from the east of the country and are under pressure in areas of the north that they still control.
A Norwegian-brokered ceasefire in 2002 broke down two years ago, resulting in renewed fighting that has killed more than 5,000 people.
At least 70,000 people have died since the war began in 1983.
Deadly bomb attacks in Sri Lanka
Deadly bomb attacks in Sri Lanka - 28 Nov 2007 BBC
At least 16 people have been killed in a bomb explosion in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, the military says.
At least 37 were also injured in the blast, which hit the city's busy Nugegoda district.
The bomb went off outside a clothing shop, after a guard reportedly tried to open a suspicious parcel.
The blast came just hours after a suicide bomber killed one person and hurt two in Colombo. Officials blamed the two attacks on Tamil Tiger rebels.
They took place a day after Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran described hopes for peace as naive, after increased fighting in the north.
The Tigers say that more than 20 civilians, most of them children, were killed in two attacks by the military in the north on Tuesday.
Burning bus
The second blast occurred just outside the four-storey clothing shop during the evening rush hour
Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said the explosion occurred after a security guard at the complex spotted a suspicious parcel and tried to handle it.
A bus caught fire as a result of the explosion, the defence ministry said.
There are fears that the death toll could rise further. Police are currently searching rubble for more bodies.
Mangled and charred motorcycle and taxi parts were scattered nearby.
"I was on the top floor of a shoe shop with my wife and child when I heard a big blast and there were glass pieces all over us," local resident A Jayasena told the Associated Press.
Recent rebel attacks on civilian targets of this scale have been rare, but bombings causing mass casualties have been a feature of Sri Lanka's conflict in the past.
In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew herself up outside the offices of Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, who escaped unharmed, officials said.
He is the leader of a rival Tamil movement, the Eelam People's Democratic Party.
BBC South Asia correspondent Chris Morris says Mr Devananda is a bitter opponent of the Tigers and has been targeted by them before.
Mr Devananda's personal secretary and two security staff were injured by the explosion. The secretary later died in hospital.
Officials said the suicide bomber was a disabled woman who mingled with crowds outside the government building before detonating her device.
'Genocidal'
The Tamil Tigers said that at least 11 of those killed in the north on Tuesday were schoolchildren whose bus hit a mine laid by the military. The army denied responsibility.
Nine others died when the Tigers' radio station was bombed, the rebels said.
In a broadcast speech, Prabhakaran said it was naive to believe peace was possible with any of the parties in the Sinhalese-dominated south.
Since his last address the Tigers have been driven from the east of the country and are under pressure in areas of the north that they still control.
A Norwegian-brokered ceasefire in 2002 broke down two years ago, resulting in renewed fighting that has killed more than 5,000 people.
At least 70,000 people have died since the war began in 1983.
At least 16 people have been killed in a bomb explosion in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, the military says.
At least 37 were also injured in the blast, which hit the city's busy Nugegoda district.
The bomb went off outside a clothing shop, after a guard reportedly tried to open a suspicious parcel.
The blast came just hours after a suicide bomber killed one person and hurt two in Colombo. Officials blamed the two attacks on Tamil Tiger rebels.
They took place a day after Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran described hopes for peace as naive, after increased fighting in the north.
The Tigers say that more than 20 civilians, most of them children, were killed in two attacks by the military in the north on Tuesday.
Burning bus
The second blast occurred just outside the four-storey clothing shop during the evening rush hour
Army spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said the explosion occurred after a security guard at the complex spotted a suspicious parcel and tried to handle it.
A bus caught fire as a result of the explosion, the defence ministry said.
There are fears that the death toll could rise further. Police are currently searching rubble for more bodies.
Mangled and charred motorcycle and taxi parts were scattered nearby.
"I was on the top floor of a shoe shop with my wife and child when I heard a big blast and there were glass pieces all over us," local resident A Jayasena told the Associated Press.
Recent rebel attacks on civilian targets of this scale have been rare, but bombings causing mass casualties have been a feature of Sri Lanka's conflict in the past.
In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew herself up outside the offices of Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, who escaped unharmed, officials said.
He is the leader of a rival Tamil movement, the Eelam People's Democratic Party.
BBC South Asia correspondent Chris Morris says Mr Devananda is a bitter opponent of the Tigers and has been targeted by them before.
Mr Devananda's personal secretary and two security staff were injured by the explosion. The secretary later died in hospital.
Officials said the suicide bomber was a disabled woman who mingled with crowds outside the government building before detonating her device.
'Genocidal'
The Tamil Tigers said that at least 11 of those killed in the north on Tuesday were schoolchildren whose bus hit a mine laid by the military. The army denied responsibility.
Nine others died when the Tigers' radio station was bombed, the rebels said.
In a broadcast speech, Prabhakaran said it was naive to believe peace was possible with any of the parties in the Sinhalese-dominated south.
Since his last address the Tigers have been driven from the east of the country and are under pressure in areas of the north that they still control.
A Norwegian-brokered ceasefire in 2002 broke down two years ago, resulting in renewed fighting that has killed more than 5,000 people.
At least 70,000 people have died since the war began in 1983.
Last Updated: Wednesday, 4 April 2007, 13:15 GMT 14:15 UK
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A date with a renegade rebel Tiger
The BBC's Colombo correspondent Roland Buerk speaks to the reclusive Colonel Karuna - the leader of the breakaway eastern faction of the Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka
The worst bit was when they put on the blindfolds. They were polite about it - apologetic even - it was for our safety and theirs, they said.
But it was still nerve-wracking sitting in the back of a battered old minibus, unable to see, being driven at speed over rough roads to who knew where.
We were on our way to meet Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, better known by his nom de guerre, Colonel Karuna Amman.
He was once a trusted aide of Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran - Col Karuna described himself to us as having been the second-in-command of the Tigers.
He was the leading commander in the east, and one of the rebels' most successful men on the battlefield.
So when Col Karuna left the Tigers in 2004 taking many of his fighters with him it changed the dynamic of Sri Lanka's conflict.
Government forces have since driven the rebels from much of the Eastern Province.
Col Karuna rarely gives interviews and is almost never seen in public. Security around him is tight.
When the blindfolds came off we were in a tiny, sparsely-furnished bungalow, several hours' drive from the former Tiger commander's stronghold of Batticaloa.
'Not serious'
He emerged, smiling, from a bedroom to greet us.
Col Karuna says he left the rebel movement because disproportionate numbers of cadres from the east, like him, were being sacrificed on the battlefield, while the rebels from the north controlled the organisation.
And, he said, Prabhakaran was not serious about peace negotiations with the government of Sri Lanka and the now all-but-defunct 2002 ceasefire.
"I was a member of those talks," he said.
"What we were told by him was to drag these talks out for about five years, somehow let the time pass by, meanwhile I will purchase arms and we'll be ready for the next stage of fighting.
"That was his order. I told him many times, 'Let's get a federal kind of solution. This federal settlement will bring an immediate solution for the Tamils.' But he never really accepted that," he said.
The rebels have said an investigation was underway at the time he left to find out whether he had broken their code of conduct.
There were few personal possessions in the bungalow, just a small backpack lying on a bed, and a suit bag from one of Colombo's swankier menswear shops hanging in the wardrobe.
This was clearly a temporary resting place.
He had five mobile telephones.
There have been reports, denied by the government, that Col Karuna's cadres have been helping the Sri Lankan military as they have captured areas in the east that were under Tiger control.
Aid agency workers report seeing Karuna cadres carrying weapons in government-controlled areas.
'Lost strength'
He rejected those claims, but agreed his actions had had a major impact.
"By our coming out of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), I mean by me leaving the LTTE, they have lost 70% of their fighting capacity," he said.
"The LTTE has lost its strength to fight. That's an important factor. That has been a motivation for the Sri Lankan military.
"We being together with them (the military) is not right, we have never been together with them and we will not be together with them.
"But by our leaving, their [the LTTE's] strength has been broken, and by our leaving the morale of the Sri Lankan army has been boosted, morale has been built up.
"Because of that only Sri Lankan troops were able to capture most of the areas," he said.
The other allegation that has been levelled against Col Karuna's organisation is that it has been active in recruiting child soldiers.
A report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch said hundreds of children had been abducted in the east.
A UN envoy, Allan Rock, accused elements within Sri Lanka's military of helping the Karuna faction to recruit children as soldiers.
"Definitely we have no need to recruit them because we have no need of building up a military body," Col Karuna said.
"At the moment the Sri Lanka government, all three armed forces, are fighting against the Tamil Tigers. We have no need to do so.
"At the same time I would like to tell you clearly, this is also another reason for us to come out of the LTTE.
"Our eastern children had been taken to the northern fighting zone and sacrificed by Prabhakaran. We didn't accept that. Our eastern children should study, they should live in freedom," he said.
But when I pressed him saying researchers from Human Rights Watch had spoken to the relatives of some of the missing, he conceded that children might be in his camps.
"If we are receiving any accusations like that maybe there are people who had come willingly, maybe even the parents would have given the wrong information, saying that we have taken these people by force," he said.
"Definitely they can meet them and if they like, they definitely can return to their parents. At the moment we are not a military body, we are a political body so we have no need to keep fighters like that or to build up a fighting force."
Election plans
Col Karuna was wearing a suit and tie. He has literally shed his Tiger uniform to enter what he calls "the political mainstream".
His newly-formed party, the TMVP, would contest future provincial and general elections, he said.
Senior government figures have spoken of him being a possible future chief minister of the Eastern Province.
He says he has abandoned the idea of a Tamil Eelam - the Tamil homeland for which the Tigers have fought for decades - and now wants a solution to the ethnic conflict under one united Sri Lanka.
"For the economy and education we need a lot of say," he said.
"The northern districts and the eastern districts have to have a lot of powers because the northern and the eastern districts are the most affected by war.
"To build up these places we need a lot of economic power. We have a need to build up the education also, we need a lot of allocations for that as well," he said.
As we were about to leave I asked him whether he was worried about the possibility that the Tigers might try to kill him.
"I am really not looking at this as a major problem," he said.
"I am the one who protected Prabhakaran. There was a time when Prabhakaran was even facing threats from within the Tigers. While he was having major threats, and was shaking, I protected him and also made the Tigers known to the world and guided them.
"As to Prabhakaran calling me a traitor, I am really not worried. Today, that is what he is. It's because of Prabhakaran, a single man, that all these killings and violence have been taking place," he says.
- BBC
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
A date with a renegade rebel Tiger
The BBC's Colombo correspondent Roland Buerk speaks to the reclusive Colonel Karuna - the leader of the breakaway eastern faction of the Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka
The worst bit was when they put on the blindfolds. They were polite about it - apologetic even - it was for our safety and theirs, they said.
But it was still nerve-wracking sitting in the back of a battered old minibus, unable to see, being driven at speed over rough roads to who knew where.
We were on our way to meet Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, better known by his nom de guerre, Colonel Karuna Amman.
He was once a trusted aide of Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran - Col Karuna described himself to us as having been the second-in-command of the Tigers.
He was the leading commander in the east, and one of the rebels' most successful men on the battlefield.
So when Col Karuna left the Tigers in 2004 taking many of his fighters with him it changed the dynamic of Sri Lanka's conflict.
Government forces have since driven the rebels from much of the Eastern Province.
Col Karuna rarely gives interviews and is almost never seen in public. Security around him is tight.
When the blindfolds came off we were in a tiny, sparsely-furnished bungalow, several hours' drive from the former Tiger commander's stronghold of Batticaloa.
'Not serious'
He emerged, smiling, from a bedroom to greet us.
Col Karuna says he left the rebel movement because disproportionate numbers of cadres from the east, like him, were being sacrificed on the battlefield, while the rebels from the north controlled the organisation.
And, he said, Prabhakaran was not serious about peace negotiations with the government of Sri Lanka and the now all-but-defunct 2002 ceasefire.
"I was a member of those talks," he said.
"What we were told by him was to drag these talks out for about five years, somehow let the time pass by, meanwhile I will purchase arms and we'll be ready for the next stage of fighting.
"That was his order. I told him many times, 'Let's get a federal kind of solution. This federal settlement will bring an immediate solution for the Tamils.' But he never really accepted that," he said.
The rebels have said an investigation was underway at the time he left to find out whether he had broken their code of conduct.
There were few personal possessions in the bungalow, just a small backpack lying on a bed, and a suit bag from one of Colombo's swankier menswear shops hanging in the wardrobe.
This was clearly a temporary resting place.
He had five mobile telephones.
There have been reports, denied by the government, that Col Karuna's cadres have been helping the Sri Lankan military as they have captured areas in the east that were under Tiger control.
Aid agency workers report seeing Karuna cadres carrying weapons in government-controlled areas.
'Lost strength'
He rejected those claims, but agreed his actions had had a major impact.
"By our coming out of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), I mean by me leaving the LTTE, they have lost 70% of their fighting capacity," he said.
"The LTTE has lost its strength to fight. That's an important factor. That has been a motivation for the Sri Lankan military.
"We being together with them (the military) is not right, we have never been together with them and we will not be together with them.
"But by our leaving, their [the LTTE's] strength has been broken, and by our leaving the morale of the Sri Lankan army has been boosted, morale has been built up.
"Because of that only Sri Lankan troops were able to capture most of the areas," he said.
The other allegation that has been levelled against Col Karuna's organisation is that it has been active in recruiting child soldiers.
A report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch said hundreds of children had been abducted in the east.
A UN envoy, Allan Rock, accused elements within Sri Lanka's military of helping the Karuna faction to recruit children as soldiers.
"Definitely we have no need to recruit them because we have no need of building up a military body," Col Karuna said.
"At the moment the Sri Lanka government, all three armed forces, are fighting against the Tamil Tigers. We have no need to do so.
"At the same time I would like to tell you clearly, this is also another reason for us to come out of the LTTE.
"Our eastern children had been taken to the northern fighting zone and sacrificed by Prabhakaran. We didn't accept that. Our eastern children should study, they should live in freedom," he said.
But when I pressed him saying researchers from Human Rights Watch had spoken to the relatives of some of the missing, he conceded that children might be in his camps.
"If we are receiving any accusations like that maybe there are people who had come willingly, maybe even the parents would have given the wrong information, saying that we have taken these people by force," he said.
"Definitely they can meet them and if they like, they definitely can return to their parents. At the moment we are not a military body, we are a political body so we have no need to keep fighters like that or to build up a fighting force."
Election plans
Col Karuna was wearing a suit and tie. He has literally shed his Tiger uniform to enter what he calls "the political mainstream".
His newly-formed party, the TMVP, would contest future provincial and general elections, he said.
Senior government figures have spoken of him being a possible future chief minister of the Eastern Province.
He says he has abandoned the idea of a Tamil Eelam - the Tamil homeland for which the Tigers have fought for decades - and now wants a solution to the ethnic conflict under one united Sri Lanka.
"For the economy and education we need a lot of say," he said.
"The northern districts and the eastern districts have to have a lot of powers because the northern and the eastern districts are the most affected by war.
"To build up these places we need a lot of economic power. We have a need to build up the education also, we need a lot of allocations for that as well," he said.
As we were about to leave I asked him whether he was worried about the possibility that the Tigers might try to kill him.
"I am really not looking at this as a major problem," he said.
"I am the one who protected Prabhakaran. There was a time when Prabhakaran was even facing threats from within the Tigers. While he was having major threats, and was shaking, I protected him and also made the Tigers known to the world and guided them.
"As to Prabhakaran calling me a traitor, I am really not worried. Today, that is what he is. It's because of Prabhakaran, a single man, that all these killings and violence have been taking place," he says.
- BBC
Sri Lanka on brink of all-out war - 16 Oct 2007
Sri Lanka on brink of all-out war
By Ethirajan Anbarasan
BBC News
The Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tiger rebels seem to be gearing up for a major confrontation in the north of the country, stoking fears of more civilian casualties and displacement.
Despite losing territory in the east earlier this year, the rebels still control a vast swathe of land in the north of the island.
Although sporadic fighting has been going on for months, the intensity of the clashes has recently increased.
Fighting is currently taking place around Mannar, Vavuniya, Weli Oya and Jaffna - all areas which surround rebel-held territory. There are intermittent battles at sea as well.
"Sri Lankan forces are now focusing on the nerve centre of the rebels. Since their rear base is under threat, the Tigers have to break out militarily at some point," says analyst DBS Jeyaraj.
The pattern is clear. Both sides exchange heavy artillery fire in the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs), separating their forces. Heavy aerial bombardment is followed by military incursions.
Heavy fighting
The government claims that at least 280 rebels have been killed since September and more than 20 soldiers have been killed in various battles over the same period.
But the claims of both sides in relation to casualties and what exactly has happened on the battle front can rarely, if ever, be independently confirmed.
The future for civilians looks bleak
For its part, the government has denied starting any offensives.
"Government forces are only defending their positions and if they are attacked they will counter-attack," Sri Lankan army spokesperson Brig Udaya Nanayakkara told the BBC.
Earlier attempts by the military to capture the rebel stronghold in Vanni have ended in disaster. But buoyed by recent victories in the east, the army is now confident of recapturing territory in the north as well.
Tamil rebels are also gearing up for a major battle. There are already reports of the rebels establishing a three-layered defensive infrastructure inside Vanni region. Troops are likely to suffer casualties while trying to penetrate these heavily fortified defence lines.
But the Sri Lankan military claims to have had several morale-boosting successes in recent weeks. They claim that many rebel ships carrying arms have been destroyed recently in the open sea.
The military says that it has also moved into certain strategic areas in Mannar district. There is little doubt that their confidence is high.
Civilian plight
Perhaps the main concern is the fate of thousands of civilians trapped inside rebel-held areas and border regions. Local journalists say that more than 200 civilians have been killed in various incidents since the beginning of August. If full-scale conflict erupts, then civilians will be forced to flee.
There are already more than 5,000 civilians displaced in the recent fighting in the north.
Morale in the army is reported to be high
"We were forced to leave our homes due to heavy shelling. We have been moving from place to place. Life in the refugee camps is miserable," says a displaced Tamil who did not want to be identified.
Some of the displaced civilians in the north are afraid that they may not be allowed to go back to their homes even if the fighting ends. They point out that while major clashes ceased in the east some months ago, more than 40,000 civilians are still scattered in various camps for displaced people.
The upsurge in fighting has happened despite the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement, signed in 2002. Everyone recognises that it now exists only on paper.
The political process is also in limbo. The government had announced the formation of an all-party group last year to discuss a political solution to the war. The final draft of the proposals is still under discussion and the delay is worrying the Tamils.
"The government seems to be emboldened by their recent military success in the east. So, they think there is no need to devolve power to the Tamils," says Mr Jeyaraj.
Human rights concern
Meanwhile, the government is also coming under intense scrutiny from human rights agencies, who accuse the security forces and paramilitary groups of abductions and killings. Officials vehemently deny these charges. Tamil rebels also face similar accusations from human rights groups. But they, too, deny the accusations.
Thousands have become internally displaced
United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour spoke out strongly this month against the country's human rights record.
"The most serious human rights issue is the lack of credible public information on the large number of unresolved cases of abductions, disappearances and killings... These cases are not properly recorded, investigated and there is no prosecution," Ms Arbour told the BBC's Newshour programme after her recent visit to the island-nation.
The international community's plea to both warring parties to refrain from all-out war does not appear to be having any effect.
The forthcoming monsoon may delay an imminent major confrontation but analysts say Sri Lanka is on course for a protracted and a bitter conflict in the coming months.
In the meantime, displaced civilians are afraid that the lack of international attention to their plight will only add to their misery.
By Ethirajan Anbarasan
BBC News
The Sri Lankan military and Tamil Tiger rebels seem to be gearing up for a major confrontation in the north of the country, stoking fears of more civilian casualties and displacement.
Despite losing territory in the east earlier this year, the rebels still control a vast swathe of land in the north of the island.
Although sporadic fighting has been going on for months, the intensity of the clashes has recently increased.
Fighting is currently taking place around Mannar, Vavuniya, Weli Oya and Jaffna - all areas which surround rebel-held territory. There are intermittent battles at sea as well.
"Sri Lankan forces are now focusing on the nerve centre of the rebels. Since their rear base is under threat, the Tigers have to break out militarily at some point," says analyst DBS Jeyaraj.
The pattern is clear. Both sides exchange heavy artillery fire in the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs), separating their forces. Heavy aerial bombardment is followed by military incursions.
Heavy fighting
The government claims that at least 280 rebels have been killed since September and more than 20 soldiers have been killed in various battles over the same period.
But the claims of both sides in relation to casualties and what exactly has happened on the battle front can rarely, if ever, be independently confirmed.
The future for civilians looks bleak
For its part, the government has denied starting any offensives.
"Government forces are only defending their positions and if they are attacked they will counter-attack," Sri Lankan army spokesperson Brig Udaya Nanayakkara told the BBC.
Earlier attempts by the military to capture the rebel stronghold in Vanni have ended in disaster. But buoyed by recent victories in the east, the army is now confident of recapturing territory in the north as well.
Tamil rebels are also gearing up for a major battle. There are already reports of the rebels establishing a three-layered defensive infrastructure inside Vanni region. Troops are likely to suffer casualties while trying to penetrate these heavily fortified defence lines.
But the Sri Lankan military claims to have had several morale-boosting successes in recent weeks. They claim that many rebel ships carrying arms have been destroyed recently in the open sea.
The military says that it has also moved into certain strategic areas in Mannar district. There is little doubt that their confidence is high.
Civilian plight
Perhaps the main concern is the fate of thousands of civilians trapped inside rebel-held areas and border regions. Local journalists say that more than 200 civilians have been killed in various incidents since the beginning of August. If full-scale conflict erupts, then civilians will be forced to flee.
There are already more than 5,000 civilians displaced in the recent fighting in the north.
Morale in the army is reported to be high
"We were forced to leave our homes due to heavy shelling. We have been moving from place to place. Life in the refugee camps is miserable," says a displaced Tamil who did not want to be identified.
Some of the displaced civilians in the north are afraid that they may not be allowed to go back to their homes even if the fighting ends. They point out that while major clashes ceased in the east some months ago, more than 40,000 civilians are still scattered in various camps for displaced people.
The upsurge in fighting has happened despite the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement, signed in 2002. Everyone recognises that it now exists only on paper.
The political process is also in limbo. The government had announced the formation of an all-party group last year to discuss a political solution to the war. The final draft of the proposals is still under discussion and the delay is worrying the Tamils.
"The government seems to be emboldened by their recent military success in the east. So, they think there is no need to devolve power to the Tamils," says Mr Jeyaraj.
Human rights concern
Meanwhile, the government is also coming under intense scrutiny from human rights agencies, who accuse the security forces and paramilitary groups of abductions and killings. Officials vehemently deny these charges. Tamil rebels also face similar accusations from human rights groups. But they, too, deny the accusations.
Thousands have become internally displaced
United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour spoke out strongly this month against the country's human rights record.
"The most serious human rights issue is the lack of credible public information on the large number of unresolved cases of abductions, disappearances and killings... These cases are not properly recorded, investigated and there is no prosecution," Ms Arbour told the BBC's Newshour programme after her recent visit to the island-nation.
The international community's plea to both warring parties to refrain from all-out war does not appear to be having any effect.
The forthcoming monsoon may delay an imminent major confrontation but analysts say Sri Lanka is on course for a protracted and a bitter conflict in the coming months.
In the meantime, displaced civilians are afraid that the lack of international attention to their plight will only add to their misery.
Charged over Hindu Rally in Malaysia - 28 Nov 2007 BBC
Scores charged over Hindu rally 28 Nov 2007
Water cannons and tear gas were deployed by police
At least 80 ethnic Indians have been charged with illegal assembly in Malaysia, after a weekend of protests in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
Activists appeared in several courts around the country to deny the charges, and many were freed on bail.
Thousands of Hindu activists took to the streets to protest at what they regard as decades of discrimination by the mainly Malay-Muslim government.
One of the rally's organisers vowed to continue fighting for Indian rights.
"People won't be deterred. They want to put their foot down," said P Uthayakumar.
"To me it is racially motivated. The public will have more hatred for the government."
Thiruchelven Rajoo, a 30-year-old electrician who was charged with illegal assembly, told the Associated Press he did not regret taking part in the rally.
"I am not worried because I am doing it for my rights. It is unfair to all Indians in Malaysia ... they treat us like dogs."
Compensation claim
Meanwhile, government lawyers are seeking to overturn a decision by the courts to free three of the protest's organisers, who were held on charges of sedition, state news agency Bernama reports.
Judges freed the men after prosecutors failed to provide a translation of their allegedly seditious comments, which had been made in Tamil.
The legal moves against the activists came the day after Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi raised the possibility of using strict security laws to clamp down on protesters.
Mr Abdullah said the Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial, could be used.
The stated aim of Sunday's rally was to call on the British government to pay compensation to the descendants of ethnic Indians taken to Malaysia as indentured labourers in the 19th Century.
But the real goal of the demonstrators was to highlight perceived discrimination against ethnic Indians.
Activists say policies granting jobs and economic advantages to the ethnic Malay Muslim majority leave many Hindus in poverty.
Water cannons and tear gas were deployed by police
At least 80 ethnic Indians have been charged with illegal assembly in Malaysia, after a weekend of protests in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
Activists appeared in several courts around the country to deny the charges, and many were freed on bail.
Thousands of Hindu activists took to the streets to protest at what they regard as decades of discrimination by the mainly Malay-Muslim government.
One of the rally's organisers vowed to continue fighting for Indian rights.
"People won't be deterred. They want to put their foot down," said P Uthayakumar.
"To me it is racially motivated. The public will have more hatred for the government."
Thiruchelven Rajoo, a 30-year-old electrician who was charged with illegal assembly, told the Associated Press he did not regret taking part in the rally.
"I am not worried because I am doing it for my rights. It is unfair to all Indians in Malaysia ... they treat us like dogs."
Compensation claim
Meanwhile, government lawyers are seeking to overturn a decision by the courts to free three of the protest's organisers, who were held on charges of sedition, state news agency Bernama reports.
Judges freed the men after prosecutors failed to provide a translation of their allegedly seditious comments, which had been made in Tamil.
The legal moves against the activists came the day after Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi raised the possibility of using strict security laws to clamp down on protesters.
Mr Abdullah said the Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial, could be used.
The stated aim of Sunday's rally was to call on the British government to pay compensation to the descendants of ethnic Indians taken to Malaysia as indentured labourers in the 19th Century.
But the real goal of the demonstrators was to highlight perceived discrimination against ethnic Indians.
Activists say policies granting jobs and economic advantages to the ethnic Malay Muslim majority leave many Hindus in poverty.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
GOODBYE, DEVELOPMENT'S OLD DIVIDES
GOODBYE, DEVELOPMENT'S OLD DIVIDES
A new world in four tiers
By James D. Wolfensohn
THE notion of a divide between the rich north and the poor and developing south has long been a central concept among economists and policymakers. From 1950 to 1980, the north accounted for 80 per cent of global GDP but only 22 per cent of its population, and the south accounted for the remainder of global population and 20 per cent of global income.
But the north-south divide is now obsolete. The dynamic process of globalisation has resulted in unprecedented levels of growth and interdependence. However, while this has blurred the old division, new ones have emerged, splintering today's world into four inter- connected tiers.
The first tier comprises the affluent countries, notably the United States, European nations, Australia and Japan - with a combined population of around one billion and per capita incomes ranging from US$79,000 (S$114,000) in Luxembourg) to US$16,000 in South Korea.
For the past 50 years, these affluent countries have dominated the global economy, producing four-fifths of its economic output. But in recent years, a new set of economies has emerged that is contesting the affluent countries' economic dominance.
These emerging economies - call them the Globalisers - constitute a second tier of about 30 poor and middle-income countries (including China and India), with per capita GDP growth rates of 3.5 per cent or more, and a total population of 3.2 billion, or roughly 50 per cent of the world's population. These countries have seen unprecedented levels of sustained economic growth that may well enable them to replace the 'Affluents' as engines of the world economy.
The Globalisers are a large and diverse group of countries - in size, geography, culture and history - that have learnt how to integrate optimally with, and leverage on, the global economy to catalyse their development.
A third tier is made up of about 50 middle-income countries with a combined population of 1.1 billion. They are also home to many of the world's critical natural resources, possessing around 60 per cent of proven oil reserves. But these 'Rentiers' have not been able to translate the rents of their natural resource wealth into sustained economic growth.
The fourth tier comprises countries that are lagging behind - the world's poorest economies, with more than a billion people. They continue to stagnate or decline economically. Mostly located in sub-Saharan Africa, these 'Laggards' are largely isolated from the global economy, and they face crucial development challenges.
This emerging four-tier world presents three key challenges.
First, we need to increase our efforts to ensure the Laggards are no longer left behind. This requires policy changes as well as more generous and more effective aid. If one considers the issue of aid flows, one finds that although development aid rose in 2005 to US$107 billion, most of the increase was geared towards 'special circumstances', such as debt forgiveness and for Iraq and Afghanistan.
The sad truth is that development aid to Africa had fallen from US$49 per person in 1980 to US$38 per person in 2005. The true development needs of Laggard countries and other parts of the world are not being met, despite the rhetoric of scaling up aid.
Second, the old powers need to accommodate the rise of Globaliser economies - particularly China and India - by reforming the international order. The Affluents will continue to be major global players, but as the Globalisers' relative economic power rises, they will demand a greater role in international affairs. Most Affluents seem unprepared for this change, but such demands will need to be accommodated.
Finally, while the Globalisers have lifted millions of people out of poverty and reduced global inequality, this has not resulted in a more equal world, because star economies such as India and China are experiencing a rise in domestic inequity.
Whether it is coastal versus inland or rural versus urban, these countries must tackle the widening disparities because high inequality may well threaten their very ability to continue growing as they have.
If we are to create a more equitable world, then traditional levers of development such as trade, investment, aid and migration need to be scaled up comprehensively and coherently, and global institutions must be reformed.
This would improve our ability to address global challenges and better our prospects for building a more equitable world. Otherwise, we might bid farewell to old development divides only to welcome new ones.
The writer, a former president of the World Bank, is president of Wolfensohn and Company.
Copyright: Project Syndicate/Europe's World
A new world in four tiers
By James D. Wolfensohn
THE notion of a divide between the rich north and the poor and developing south has long been a central concept among economists and policymakers. From 1950 to 1980, the north accounted for 80 per cent of global GDP but only 22 per cent of its population, and the south accounted for the remainder of global population and 20 per cent of global income.
But the north-south divide is now obsolete. The dynamic process of globalisation has resulted in unprecedented levels of growth and interdependence. However, while this has blurred the old division, new ones have emerged, splintering today's world into four inter- connected tiers.
The first tier comprises the affluent countries, notably the United States, European nations, Australia and Japan - with a combined population of around one billion and per capita incomes ranging from US$79,000 (S$114,000) in Luxembourg) to US$16,000 in South Korea.
For the past 50 years, these affluent countries have dominated the global economy, producing four-fifths of its economic output. But in recent years, a new set of economies has emerged that is contesting the affluent countries' economic dominance.
These emerging economies - call them the Globalisers - constitute a second tier of about 30 poor and middle-income countries (including China and India), with per capita GDP growth rates of 3.5 per cent or more, and a total population of 3.2 billion, or roughly 50 per cent of the world's population. These countries have seen unprecedented levels of sustained economic growth that may well enable them to replace the 'Affluents' as engines of the world economy.
The Globalisers are a large and diverse group of countries - in size, geography, culture and history - that have learnt how to integrate optimally with, and leverage on, the global economy to catalyse their development.
A third tier is made up of about 50 middle-income countries with a combined population of 1.1 billion. They are also home to many of the world's critical natural resources, possessing around 60 per cent of proven oil reserves. But these 'Rentiers' have not been able to translate the rents of their natural resource wealth into sustained economic growth.
The fourth tier comprises countries that are lagging behind - the world's poorest economies, with more than a billion people. They continue to stagnate or decline economically. Mostly located in sub-Saharan Africa, these 'Laggards' are largely isolated from the global economy, and they face crucial development challenges.
This emerging four-tier world presents three key challenges.
First, we need to increase our efforts to ensure the Laggards are no longer left behind. This requires policy changes as well as more generous and more effective aid. If one considers the issue of aid flows, one finds that although development aid rose in 2005 to US$107 billion, most of the increase was geared towards 'special circumstances', such as debt forgiveness and for Iraq and Afghanistan.
The sad truth is that development aid to Africa had fallen from US$49 per person in 1980 to US$38 per person in 2005. The true development needs of Laggard countries and other parts of the world are not being met, despite the rhetoric of scaling up aid.
Second, the old powers need to accommodate the rise of Globaliser economies - particularly China and India - by reforming the international order. The Affluents will continue to be major global players, but as the Globalisers' relative economic power rises, they will demand a greater role in international affairs. Most Affluents seem unprepared for this change, but such demands will need to be accommodated.
Finally, while the Globalisers have lifted millions of people out of poverty and reduced global inequality, this has not resulted in a more equal world, because star economies such as India and China are experiencing a rise in domestic inequity.
Whether it is coastal versus inland or rural versus urban, these countries must tackle the widening disparities because high inequality may well threaten their very ability to continue growing as they have.
If we are to create a more equitable world, then traditional levers of development such as trade, investment, aid and migration need to be scaled up comprehensively and coherently, and global institutions must be reformed.
This would improve our ability to address global challenges and better our prospects for building a more equitable world. Otherwise, we might bid farewell to old development divides only to welcome new ones.
The writer, a former president of the World Bank, is president of Wolfensohn and Company.
Copyright: Project Syndicate/Europe's World
Shot in the arm for Energy research - Nov 27, 2007
S'pore gets $46.5m lift for energy research
By Tania Tan
GREEN energy research in Singapore received a $46.5 million boost yesterday with the establishment of a new centre dedicated to making energy systems work better.
The money includes $8 million worth of grants for 10 projects, which will also focus on beefing up Singapore's energy infrastructure.
The Singapore Initiatives in New Energy Technologies (Sinergy) Centre will help take research from 'lab to life', said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan.
It will do this by transforming cutting-edge science into practical applications, for industries and households alike, he said,
Established by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, the centre will focus on developing alternative energy technologies such as solar, wind and fuel cells.
Slated for completion in 2009, the $38.5 million government- funded centre will be located at both the Fusionopolis and Jurong Island, giving scientists easy access to real-time information as they run their experiments.
Researchers will look at taking full advantage of Singapore's expertise in infocommunications technologies by creating intelligent energy management systems.
'This is a critical investment in Singapore's overall energy research and development efforts, which will transform the way we interact with energy,' said Mr Lee.
Marrying infocomms and energy is a relatively new area of research, which requires innovation in a wide range of areas, including energy storage and distribution.
Ten projects, which will complement research at the Sinergy Centre, will be awarded $8 million in grants over a three-year period, he said.
Mr Lee was speaking at the opening of the inaugural United Kingdom-Singapore Workshop on Energy Technology at the Biopolis.
Held under the auspices of the three-year-old UK-Singapore science partnership, the one-day workshop brings together 12 leading energy experts from both countries, who will share their findings in green energy research.
By Tania Tan
GREEN energy research in Singapore received a $46.5 million boost yesterday with the establishment of a new centre dedicated to making energy systems work better.
The money includes $8 million worth of grants for 10 projects, which will also focus on beefing up Singapore's energy infrastructure.
The Singapore Initiatives in New Energy Technologies (Sinergy) Centre will help take research from 'lab to life', said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Lee Yi Shyan.
It will do this by transforming cutting-edge science into practical applications, for industries and households alike, he said,
Established by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, the centre will focus on developing alternative energy technologies such as solar, wind and fuel cells.
Slated for completion in 2009, the $38.5 million government- funded centre will be located at both the Fusionopolis and Jurong Island, giving scientists easy access to real-time information as they run their experiments.
Researchers will look at taking full advantage of Singapore's expertise in infocommunications technologies by creating intelligent energy management systems.
'This is a critical investment in Singapore's overall energy research and development efforts, which will transform the way we interact with energy,' said Mr Lee.
Marrying infocomms and energy is a relatively new area of research, which requires innovation in a wide range of areas, including energy storage and distribution.
Ten projects, which will complement research at the Sinergy Centre, will be awarded $8 million in grants over a three-year period, he said.
Mr Lee was speaking at the opening of the inaugural United Kingdom-Singapore Workshop on Energy Technology at the Biopolis.
Held under the auspices of the three-year-old UK-Singapore science partnership, the one-day workshop brings together 12 leading energy experts from both countries, who will share their findings in green energy research.
9th Most costly Asian city
Nov 27, 2007
S'pore ranked 9th most costly Asian city for expatriates
By Grace Ng
SINGAPORE has risen 10 places in a new global survey of the most expensive places for expatriates to live.
The Republic is closing the gap on higher-priced Hong Kong, which stayed at No. 79 in the survey, conducted by human resources firm ECA International.
Despite the jump, Singapore, at No. 122, is still significantly cheaper for expats than Hong Kong and other key global centres, such as London at No. 10 and New York at No. 48.
Singapore's rise up the table from No. 132 was the result of rising expat costs such as higher rents, coupled with a stronger Singapore dollar.
In contrast, the Hong Kong dollar, which is pegged to the US dollar, is weakening - offsetting a rise in expat costs.
Singapore is the ninth most expensive Asian city, the survey found. Seoul is the most expensive, at No. 7 in the world. Tokyo dropped from 10th to 13th place, partly due to a decline in the yen.
Top spot went to the African city of Luanda in Angola. Places like this, which are off the beaten track, are more expensive because some expat consumer items are hard to get, and those who want them have to pay top dollar.
The survey compares a basket of 128 consumer goods and services such as groceries, drinks and tobacco, clothing and electrical goods that are commonly purchased by expatriates in more than 300 locations worldwide.
Multinational firms use the survey's results to help determine how much to pay their staff working overseas.
Living costs for expats are affected by factors such as inflation, availability of goods and exchange rates.
Singapore has seen higher inflation, partly due to a 2 percentage point hike in the goods and services tax to 7 per cent.
Mr Sebastien Barnard, 32, at the British Chamber of Commerce, said living expenses, especially food, have risen. 'A year ago, lunch for two adults and two children cost about $70, including drinks. But now it's over $95.'
But the surge in property rents is still the biggest bugbear of expats here.
Mr Mark Brider, 43, head of international personal banking for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Singapore, said: 'There is a growing number of international people living in Singapore, so the demand drives up rental. My landlord just told me my rent will be raised 80 per cent in March next year.'
Nonetheless, he added, Singapore's cost of living is still 'competitive' and 'has still not reached the level of Hong Kong'.
The rising Singapore dollar has also pushed up expat living costs, said Mr Lee Quane, general manager of ECA International Hong Kong.
He said Singapore's rising cost of living is 'bad news' for global companies, which have to adjust their expat employees' pay and allowances to help them maintain their spending power here.
graceng@sph.com.sg
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KUA ZHEN YANG
S'pore ranked 9th most costly Asian city for expatriates
By Grace Ng
SINGAPORE has risen 10 places in a new global survey of the most expensive places for expatriates to live.
The Republic is closing the gap on higher-priced Hong Kong, which stayed at No. 79 in the survey, conducted by human resources firm ECA International.
Despite the jump, Singapore, at No. 122, is still significantly cheaper for expats than Hong Kong and other key global centres, such as London at No. 10 and New York at No. 48.
Singapore's rise up the table from No. 132 was the result of rising expat costs such as higher rents, coupled with a stronger Singapore dollar.
In contrast, the Hong Kong dollar, which is pegged to the US dollar, is weakening - offsetting a rise in expat costs.
Singapore is the ninth most expensive Asian city, the survey found. Seoul is the most expensive, at No. 7 in the world. Tokyo dropped from 10th to 13th place, partly due to a decline in the yen.
Top spot went to the African city of Luanda in Angola. Places like this, which are off the beaten track, are more expensive because some expat consumer items are hard to get, and those who want them have to pay top dollar.
The survey compares a basket of 128 consumer goods and services such as groceries, drinks and tobacco, clothing and electrical goods that are commonly purchased by expatriates in more than 300 locations worldwide.
Multinational firms use the survey's results to help determine how much to pay their staff working overseas.
Living costs for expats are affected by factors such as inflation, availability of goods and exchange rates.
Singapore has seen higher inflation, partly due to a 2 percentage point hike in the goods and services tax to 7 per cent.
Mr Sebastien Barnard, 32, at the British Chamber of Commerce, said living expenses, especially food, have risen. 'A year ago, lunch for two adults and two children cost about $70, including drinks. But now it's over $95.'
But the surge in property rents is still the biggest bugbear of expats here.
Mr Mark Brider, 43, head of international personal banking for the Royal Bank of Scotland in Singapore, said: 'There is a growing number of international people living in Singapore, so the demand drives up rental. My landlord just told me my rent will be raised 80 per cent in March next year.'
Nonetheless, he added, Singapore's cost of living is still 'competitive' and 'has still not reached the level of Hong Kong'.
The rising Singapore dollar has also pushed up expat living costs, said Mr Lee Quane, general manager of ECA International Hong Kong.
He said Singapore's rising cost of living is 'bad news' for global companies, which have to adjust their expat employees' pay and allowances to help them maintain their spending power here.
graceng@sph.com.sg
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KUA ZHEN YANG
KL riot leaders freed
Leaders of group behind Indian protest in KL go free
They claim victory after court frees them on a technicality
By Chow Kum Hor, Malaysia Correspondent
KUALA LUMPUR - HINDU activists claimed victory yesterday when three of their leaders, charged with sedition after the biggest protests ever staged by Indians in Malaysia, walked free.
Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) chairman P. Waytha Moorthy and fellow founders P. Uthayakumar and V. Ganapathy Rao were freed after the prosecution failed to supply Tamil copies of their allegedly seditious speeches.
Instead, the court was given the Malay translation of their speeches. Malaysian legal procedure requires that speeches submitted as evidence must be in the language they were made in.
Although the Klang Sessions Court said the men had been granted a 'discharge not amounting to acquittal', meaning they could be re-arrested and charged again, Mr Waytha Moorthy was carried triumphantly from the court on the shoulders of a Hindraf member.
The three leaders of the organisation were greeted by about 1,000 supporters gathered outside the court when they walked out, and Mr Waytha Moorthy said: 'We are seeking justice for the Indian community, and today's verdict shows that we have made a small step in the correct direction.'
Observers say Sunday's riots, in which more than 5,000 activists battled police for six hours, represent a new era of racial activism as Indians become radicalised by the 'Islamisation' of Malaysia.
'We will have an emboldened community willing to fight for their rights,' said political commentator Charles Santiago.
'The young Indian population out there...see discrimination on a daily basis...a lot of them, they feel they have nothing to lose.'
And analyst P. Ramasamy said: 'The character of struggle has changed. It has taken on a Hindu form - Hinduism versus Islam.'
Hindraf now plans to raise the global profile of its cause by appealing directly to Britain's Queen.
Although much of the focus of Sunday's protests was on alleged Malaysian discrimination against Indian citizens, it was officially in support of a US$4 trillion (S$5.77 trillion) class action against Britain.
Hindraf's suit blames the woes faced by present-day Malaysian Indians on the British, who brought their ancestors from India to work as labourers 150 years ago.
It attempted on Sunday to deliver a petition signed by 100,000 Indians to the British High Commission, calling for the Queen to appoint a counsel to fight the suit for it.
Now, it plans to go directly to Buckingham Palace, with Mr Waytha Moorthy telling The Straits Times: 'After what happened on Sunday, we want to make sure that the petition reaches where it was intended.'
Sunday's protest could be a headache for Umno, which rules in a coalition including the Malaysian Indian Congress. Yesterday, Mr Ramasamy said: 'I think it's very clear the MIC cannot speak on behalf of the Indian community.'
Deputy Premier Najib Razak, however, denied claims that MIC president S. Samy Vellu is unable to fight for the Indian community.
'If Samy Vellu is powerless then the Indian community would have felt that they have been deprived a long time ago,' he told reporters.
'Samy Vellu is a senior member of the government and the MIC is a senior partner in the Barisan Nasional.'
He also said: 'We will not back down from a political challenge.'
kumhor@sph.com.sg
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BERNAMA
They claim victory after court frees them on a technicality
By Chow Kum Hor, Malaysia Correspondent
KUALA LUMPUR - HINDU activists claimed victory yesterday when three of their leaders, charged with sedition after the biggest protests ever staged by Indians in Malaysia, walked free.
Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) chairman P. Waytha Moorthy and fellow founders P. Uthayakumar and V. Ganapathy Rao were freed after the prosecution failed to supply Tamil copies of their allegedly seditious speeches.
Instead, the court was given the Malay translation of their speeches. Malaysian legal procedure requires that speeches submitted as evidence must be in the language they were made in.
Although the Klang Sessions Court said the men had been granted a 'discharge not amounting to acquittal', meaning they could be re-arrested and charged again, Mr Waytha Moorthy was carried triumphantly from the court on the shoulders of a Hindraf member.
The three leaders of the organisation were greeted by about 1,000 supporters gathered outside the court when they walked out, and Mr Waytha Moorthy said: 'We are seeking justice for the Indian community, and today's verdict shows that we have made a small step in the correct direction.'
Observers say Sunday's riots, in which more than 5,000 activists battled police for six hours, represent a new era of racial activism as Indians become radicalised by the 'Islamisation' of Malaysia.
'We will have an emboldened community willing to fight for their rights,' said political commentator Charles Santiago.
'The young Indian population out there...see discrimination on a daily basis...a lot of them, they feel they have nothing to lose.'
And analyst P. Ramasamy said: 'The character of struggle has changed. It has taken on a Hindu form - Hinduism versus Islam.'
Hindraf now plans to raise the global profile of its cause by appealing directly to Britain's Queen.
Although much of the focus of Sunday's protests was on alleged Malaysian discrimination against Indian citizens, it was officially in support of a US$4 trillion (S$5.77 trillion) class action against Britain.
Hindraf's suit blames the woes faced by present-day Malaysian Indians on the British, who brought their ancestors from India to work as labourers 150 years ago.
It attempted on Sunday to deliver a petition signed by 100,000 Indians to the British High Commission, calling for the Queen to appoint a counsel to fight the suit for it.
Now, it plans to go directly to Buckingham Palace, with Mr Waytha Moorthy telling The Straits Times: 'After what happened on Sunday, we want to make sure that the petition reaches where it was intended.'
Sunday's protest could be a headache for Umno, which rules in a coalition including the Malaysian Indian Congress. Yesterday, Mr Ramasamy said: 'I think it's very clear the MIC cannot speak on behalf of the Indian community.'
Deputy Premier Najib Razak, however, denied claims that MIC president S. Samy Vellu is unable to fight for the Indian community.
'If Samy Vellu is powerless then the Indian community would have felt that they have been deprived a long time ago,' he told reporters.
'Samy Vellu is a senior member of the government and the MIC is a senior partner in the Barisan Nasional.'
He also said: 'We will not back down from a political challenge.'
kumhor@sph.com.sg
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BERNAMA
Flouting Financial Guidelines
Ren Ci flouted guidelines: Charity Council head
By Theresa Tan
REN CI Hospital and Medicare Centre, now under probe for financial irregularities, had contravened certain guidelines on how charities should be run when it gave out interest-free loans.
For example, under the new Code of Governance for charities and Institutions of a Public Character (IPC), it was required to obtain board approval for any loans made by the charity, said Mrs Fang Ai Lian, chairman of the Charity Council, on Monday.
Mrs Fang told the media at the launch of the Code: 'What was done was not something in the best interest of the charity.'
Besides, there was a conflict of interest in Ren Ci's case as its honorary chief executive, Venerable Ming Yi, is one of the owners of a business that Ren Ci lent money to, she pointed out.
The Health Ministry is now probing Ren Ci, one of Singapore's largest charities, after it discovered that it has given out millions of dollars in interest-free loans to various companies. Some of these loans were made, apparently, without board approval.
Also, there were discrepancies between what the charity recorded it had lent and what the companies involved recorded it had borrowed.
Under the new Code, there should be procedures to handle conflict of interest situations, for example, when a board member has vested interest in businesses the charity deals with.
One guideline is that the board member should not vote on the matter or take part in discussions regarding the business.
Also read New Code of Governance for charities and IPCs
Nov 26, 2007
New code of governance for charities and IPCs
IGNORANCE of best practices can no longer be an excuse for charities that don't keep their house in order.
A comprehensive set of guidelines on how these custodians of public donations should run themselves was released on Monday.
They range from how charities should manage programmes and raise funds to who should sit on their boards.
The code of governance for charities and Institutions of Public Character was drafted and finalised by the Charity Council after extensive public feedback.
It marks the first time that guidelines have been spelt out for all registered charities in Singapore, which are grouped according to the arts and heritage, community, education, health, religion, sports, social service and youth.
While some, like the social service sector, had their own codes of governance, others, such as religious groups, had none.
With such an overarching document looming, feedback to the draft was passionate.
A public consultation exercise between June and August drew response from more than 700 charities, out of a total of about 1,900 in Singapore.
The council received 1,000 individual views and 200 written responses.
It considered the feedback, and made the code 'less onerous' for charities to implement, said chairman Fang Ai Lian.
For instance, the guideline now allows up to a third of the board to be made up of paid staff.
In its draft, the council had proposed that the board should be totally separate from its executive management.
But religious charities and many small arts and sports groups asked for leeway on this, said Mr Rajaram Ramiah, a lawyer who sits on the council.
By Theresa Tan
REN CI Hospital and Medicare Centre, now under probe for financial irregularities, had contravened certain guidelines on how charities should be run when it gave out interest-free loans.
For example, under the new Code of Governance for charities and Institutions of a Public Character (IPC), it was required to obtain board approval for any loans made by the charity, said Mrs Fang Ai Lian, chairman of the Charity Council, on Monday.
Mrs Fang told the media at the launch of the Code: 'What was done was not something in the best interest of the charity.'
Besides, there was a conflict of interest in Ren Ci's case as its honorary chief executive, Venerable Ming Yi, is one of the owners of a business that Ren Ci lent money to, she pointed out.
The Health Ministry is now probing Ren Ci, one of Singapore's largest charities, after it discovered that it has given out millions of dollars in interest-free loans to various companies. Some of these loans were made, apparently, without board approval.
Also, there were discrepancies between what the charity recorded it had lent and what the companies involved recorded it had borrowed.
Under the new Code, there should be procedures to handle conflict of interest situations, for example, when a board member has vested interest in businesses the charity deals with.
One guideline is that the board member should not vote on the matter or take part in discussions regarding the business.
Also read New Code of Governance for charities and IPCs
Nov 26, 2007
New code of governance for charities and IPCs
IGNORANCE of best practices can no longer be an excuse for charities that don't keep their house in order.
A comprehensive set of guidelines on how these custodians of public donations should run themselves was released on Monday.
They range from how charities should manage programmes and raise funds to who should sit on their boards.
The code of governance for charities and Institutions of Public Character was drafted and finalised by the Charity Council after extensive public feedback.
It marks the first time that guidelines have been spelt out for all registered charities in Singapore, which are grouped according to the arts and heritage, community, education, health, religion, sports, social service and youth.
While some, like the social service sector, had their own codes of governance, others, such as religious groups, had none.
With such an overarching document looming, feedback to the draft was passionate.
A public consultation exercise between June and August drew response from more than 700 charities, out of a total of about 1,900 in Singapore.
The council received 1,000 individual views and 200 written responses.
It considered the feedback, and made the code 'less onerous' for charities to implement, said chairman Fang Ai Lian.
For instance, the guideline now allows up to a third of the board to be made up of paid staff.
In its draft, the council had proposed that the board should be totally separate from its executive management.
But religious charities and many small arts and sports groups asked for leeway on this, said Mr Rajaram Ramiah, a lawyer who sits on the council.
Indians take to KL streets against discrimination
Nov 26, 2007
Indians take to KL streets against discrimination
By Chow Kum Hor, Malaysia Correspondent
COMMUNITY ANGER: Protesters running away from tear gas as riot police broke up the rally in KL yesterday.
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S Indian community staged its biggest anti-government street protest yesterday when thousands of demonstrators defied tear gas and water cannons to hit out against racial discrimination.
For six hours, riot police fought running battles with more than 5,000 Hindu protesters gathered at various places for the banned rally in Kuala Lumpur.
Many held posters of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi and waved identity cards and Malaysian flags to show they were also Malaysians, as they demanded equal rights.
The protests took place at several locations near the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
The gathering was organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), ostensibly in support of a suit it filed against Britain in August claiming US$4 trillion (S$5.77 trillion) for the suffering of Indians, whose ancestors were taken to Malaysia by the British as indentured labourers 150 years ago.
But Hindraf said the protest was also aimed at expressing Indians' anger towards the Malaysian government.
Organiser P. Uthaya Kumar said: 'They are frustrated and have no job opportunities in the government or the private sector.'
He said Malaysian Indians had been further incensed by the recent demolition of illegally built Hindu temples.
Much of the anger relates to Malaysia's bumiputera policy, which is to give the Malays an economic leg-up.
Opposition lawmaker M. Kulasegaran said: 'Over the past 50 years, Indians have been marginalised in this country, and we now want the same rights as enjoyed by other communities.'
The Indians are the third largest group after the Malays and Chinese. The rally is politically embarrassing for the government as it is the first time that minority Hindus have hit the streets in protest.
It was the second crackdown this month on an anti-government demonstration, following a 10,000-strong Nov 10 march calling for electoral reforms.
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi yesterday defended police action. Speaking to reporters in Kampala at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, he also warned those trying to test the government's patience.
'Don't abuse the freedom that has been given to you,' he said, adding that those who took part would be punished.
Earlier, the most senior Indian in government, Works Minister S. Samy Vellu, said he was 'aware of issues and problems confronting the Indian community', but said that 'street protest was not the answer'.
kumhor@sph.com.sg
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Indians take to KL streets against discrimination
By Chow Kum Hor, Malaysia Correspondent
COMMUNITY ANGER: Protesters running away from tear gas as riot police broke up the rally in KL yesterday.
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S Indian community staged its biggest anti-government street protest yesterday when thousands of demonstrators defied tear gas and water cannons to hit out against racial discrimination.
For six hours, riot police fought running battles with more than 5,000 Hindu protesters gathered at various places for the banned rally in Kuala Lumpur.
Many held posters of Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi and waved identity cards and Malaysian flags to show they were also Malaysians, as they demanded equal rights.
The protests took place at several locations near the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
The gathering was organised by the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), ostensibly in support of a suit it filed against Britain in August claiming US$4 trillion (S$5.77 trillion) for the suffering of Indians, whose ancestors were taken to Malaysia by the British as indentured labourers 150 years ago.
But Hindraf said the protest was also aimed at expressing Indians' anger towards the Malaysian government.
Organiser P. Uthaya Kumar said: 'They are frustrated and have no job opportunities in the government or the private sector.'
He said Malaysian Indians had been further incensed by the recent demolition of illegally built Hindu temples.
Much of the anger relates to Malaysia's bumiputera policy, which is to give the Malays an economic leg-up.
Opposition lawmaker M. Kulasegaran said: 'Over the past 50 years, Indians have been marginalised in this country, and we now want the same rights as enjoyed by other communities.'
The Indians are the third largest group after the Malays and Chinese. The rally is politically embarrassing for the government as it is the first time that minority Hindus have hit the streets in protest.
It was the second crackdown this month on an anti-government demonstration, following a 10,000-strong Nov 10 march calling for electoral reforms.
Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi yesterday defended police action. Speaking to reporters in Kampala at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, he also warned those trying to test the government's patience.
'Don't abuse the freedom that has been given to you,' he said, adding that those who took part would be punished.
Earlier, the most senior Indian in government, Works Minister S. Samy Vellu, said he was 'aware of issues and problems confronting the Indian community', but said that 'street protest was not the answer'.
kumhor@sph.com.sg
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION FROM REUTERS, ASSOCIATED PRESS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Urgent need to work together to fight new and old bugs
By Paul Tambyah
THERE has been a lot of interest in infectious diseases in the past few weeks. Academic circles are abuzz with the news of an unprecedented $25 million grant call for research in the field, that closes this month.
Why is Singapore investing so much in infectious diseases when the major killers in Singapore for the past 50 years have been cancer and heart disease?
On a personal note, people have often asked me: 'Why did you go into infectious diseases?'
When I was a young doctor in training, one of my teachers encouraged me to take up a career in cardiology. 'Too few diagnoses,' I replied with youthful thoughtlessness. His quick retort: 'Then you should do infectious diseases, there are thousands of diagnoses there!'
On the advice of one of Singapore's most respected clinicians, Dr John Tambyah, a consultant endocrinologist who happens to be my father, I took off to the United States for postgraduate training in infectious diseases in 1993, as the local training programmes were just getting established.
For the next six years, I was immersed in the world of bugs and bug doctors. I learnt some of the science of infectious diseases, from the molecular characteristics of antibiotic resistant bacteria to the mathematical models that go into predicting antibiotic effectiveness
learnt the core epidemiologic skills to identify new clinical syndromes caused by emerging pathogens, and the social and clinical challenges of helping HIV/Aids patients at the start of the treatment era.
Having been back in Singapore for nearly a decade, it is exciting to see the infectious diseases field turn from a Cinderella speciality to a prestigious research arena with fierce competition among top scientists for research dollars.
What happened? The often misquoted US Surgeon-General William Stewart is alleged to have said in the late 1960s that we could 'close the book on infectious diseases'. However, as we all know, recent history changed all that.
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) epidemic was a wake-up call. It reminded all that we live in a globally interlinked world, that we ignore the interaction between humans and the other inhabitants of this planet at our peril and that collaboration and science can help control the plagues of today and tomorrow.
First, the Nipah virus which appeared in 1999, then Sars and later, the spectre of pandemic influenza, have pushed emerging infectious diseases to the front pages.
Some have already begun to forget the 'ghost town' eeriness of Orchard Road in April 2003.
The economic impact of these emerging infections was considerable and the impact of the next will be greater. Singapore, one of the world's most globalised cities, is extremely vulnerable to new emerging pathogens.
With global changes in agriculture, industry and population movements all around us and the effects of global climate change, the scene is set for new viruses or bacteria to appear.
Singapore can ill afford to be unprepared for the next pathogen and steps have been taken with the Regional Emerging Diseases Intervention Centre (Redi), the emerging infectious diseases research programmes at the universities, Ministry of Health, and the Communicable Disease Centre, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (CDC-TTSH) to try to prevent that from happening.
On a more mundane level, infectious diseases account for a disproportionate share of the complications of medical care and modern medical conditions. Foremost, are hospital-acquired infections and the complications from diabetes.
The former is an unpleasant reality worldwide and a recognised complication of modern medical care. Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step to adequately dealing with it.
Globally, hospitals are understaffed and overcrowded with patients needing invasive devices such as drips and tubes for the latest wonder drugs and therapies.
These, unfortunately, also allow germs that live on our skin and mucous surfaces to get into the weakened bodies of these patients. While medical advances have changed the face of many diseases including cancer, these new therapies can carry with them the cost of new and more resistant infections.
Today's patients are more and more vulnerable to these infections which are often multi-resistant as they are also receiving more antibiotics, and this is a major challenge in our hospitals worldwide.
Again, the first steps have been taken by research consortia from across the public hospitals and universities here to begin to address this pressing problem.
The 'antibiotic pipeline' seems to have dried up and there are now fewer new antibiotics. These bacteria seem to be one step ahead of us.
The old strategy of depending on the pharmaceutical industry may not work any more as some of the firms appear to be more focused on lifestyle drugs.
There is an urgent need for basic scientists to collaborate with clinicians to develop novel targets for antibiotic therapies and to work together to understand how to control these often deadly infections.
The newly formed Consortium on Antimicrobial Resistance is one such collaboration that brings together clinicians, public health specialists and basic scientists from four key agencies, the National University of Singapore (NUS), the National Healthcare Group, SingHealth and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, to try and outfox the wily bacteria.
Singapore has one of the world's highest rates of diabetes. Foot infections in diabetic patients result in 700 amputations a year. Singapore has the opportunity to take a regional leadership role in this growing global problem.
Almost every one of us has a relative or friend with diabetes and this is clearly a fertile field for research that can benefit Singapore and beyond. This is a major public health crisis and one that demands a multi-disciplinary approach.
At the National University Hospital (NUH), the multi-disciplinary team - comprising an endocrinologist, an orthopaedic surgeon, a podiatrist, specialist nurse and microvascular reconstructive surgeon, and an infectious disease specialist - works to reduce the morbidity and mortality rates of patients with diabetic foot problems.
Finally, mention infectious diseases and everyone thinks of dengue, malaria, tuberculosis and typhoid. These are the 'classic infectious diseases' of old in which Singapore has a strong track record in clinical and basic science research.
Singapore has a dengue consortium probably among the world's largest collection of dengue researchers, in an innovative collaboration between industry, hospital-based clinicians and basic scientists from universities and research institutes here.
The newly formed Singapore malaria network, comprising members from the NUS, Nanyang Technological University and the Singapore Immunology Network, is another exceptional collaborative effort between scientists and engineers looking at new ways to diagnose and treat one of the world's deadliest infections, albeit a distant memory for most Singaporeans.
Tuberculosis is another area where Singapore has a long and distinguished history in research. The early UK Medical Research Council led trials conducted in Singapore General Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital in the 1960s and 1970s which helped establish the basis for regimes used to treat tuberculosis worldwide today.
With the advent of extremely drug resistant tuberculosis (or XDR-TB), scientists and clinical researchers are facing new challenges from this very old disease.
The modern equivalent of the old infectious diseases which were 'hidden away' in sanatoria and lazarettos is HIV/Aids. We have excellent HIV/Aids clinical researchers at CDC-TTSH and the other hospitals but we need more basic scientists to step up to the challenge of HIV research.
This is a growing problem here and in the region. HIV/Aids is a microcosm of the challenges facing infectious disease researchers.
While there has been much progress since the identification of the virus which came to Singapore within a few years after the initial US reports, there are huge scientific questions yet to be answered in terms of the virus and its biology.
There are also major health services research questions as we try to deliver the therapeutic advances made elsewhere to our fellow Singaporeans, and even more challenging humanitarian questions as we examine our own personal prejudices, fears, anxieties and hopes.
The writer is Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS, and Head, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, NUH
By Paul Tambyah
THERE has been a lot of interest in infectious diseases in the past few weeks. Academic circles are abuzz with the news of an unprecedented $25 million grant call for research in the field, that closes this month.
Why is Singapore investing so much in infectious diseases when the major killers in Singapore for the past 50 years have been cancer and heart disease?
On a personal note, people have often asked me: 'Why did you go into infectious diseases?'
When I was a young doctor in training, one of my teachers encouraged me to take up a career in cardiology. 'Too few diagnoses,' I replied with youthful thoughtlessness. His quick retort: 'Then you should do infectious diseases, there are thousands of diagnoses there!'
On the advice of one of Singapore's most respected clinicians, Dr John Tambyah, a consultant endocrinologist who happens to be my father, I took off to the United States for postgraduate training in infectious diseases in 1993, as the local training programmes were just getting established.
For the next six years, I was immersed in the world of bugs and bug doctors. I learnt some of the science of infectious diseases, from the molecular characteristics of antibiotic resistant bacteria to the mathematical models that go into predicting antibiotic effectiveness
learnt the core epidemiologic skills to identify new clinical syndromes caused by emerging pathogens, and the social and clinical challenges of helping HIV/Aids patients at the start of the treatment era.
Having been back in Singapore for nearly a decade, it is exciting to see the infectious diseases field turn from a Cinderella speciality to a prestigious research arena with fierce competition among top scientists for research dollars.
What happened? The often misquoted US Surgeon-General William Stewart is alleged to have said in the late 1960s that we could 'close the book on infectious diseases'. However, as we all know, recent history changed all that.
The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) epidemic was a wake-up call. It reminded all that we live in a globally interlinked world, that we ignore the interaction between humans and the other inhabitants of this planet at our peril and that collaboration and science can help control the plagues of today and tomorrow.
First, the Nipah virus which appeared in 1999, then Sars and later, the spectre of pandemic influenza, have pushed emerging infectious diseases to the front pages.
Some have already begun to forget the 'ghost town' eeriness of Orchard Road in April 2003.
The economic impact of these emerging infections was considerable and the impact of the next will be greater. Singapore, one of the world's most globalised cities, is extremely vulnerable to new emerging pathogens.
With global changes in agriculture, industry and population movements all around us and the effects of global climate change, the scene is set for new viruses or bacteria to appear.
Singapore can ill afford to be unprepared for the next pathogen and steps have been taken with the Regional Emerging Diseases Intervention Centre (Redi), the emerging infectious diseases research programmes at the universities, Ministry of Health, and the Communicable Disease Centre, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (CDC-TTSH) to try to prevent that from happening.
On a more mundane level, infectious diseases account for a disproportionate share of the complications of medical care and modern medical conditions. Foremost, are hospital-acquired infections and the complications from diabetes.
The former is an unpleasant reality worldwide and a recognised complication of modern medical care. Understanding the scope of the problem is the first step to adequately dealing with it.
Globally, hospitals are understaffed and overcrowded with patients needing invasive devices such as drips and tubes for the latest wonder drugs and therapies.
These, unfortunately, also allow germs that live on our skin and mucous surfaces to get into the weakened bodies of these patients. While medical advances have changed the face of many diseases including cancer, these new therapies can carry with them the cost of new and more resistant infections.
Today's patients are more and more vulnerable to these infections which are often multi-resistant as they are also receiving more antibiotics, and this is a major challenge in our hospitals worldwide.
Again, the first steps have been taken by research consortia from across the public hospitals and universities here to begin to address this pressing problem.
The 'antibiotic pipeline' seems to have dried up and there are now fewer new antibiotics. These bacteria seem to be one step ahead of us.
The old strategy of depending on the pharmaceutical industry may not work any more as some of the firms appear to be more focused on lifestyle drugs.
There is an urgent need for basic scientists to collaborate with clinicians to develop novel targets for antibiotic therapies and to work together to understand how to control these often deadly infections.
The newly formed Consortium on Antimicrobial Resistance is one such collaboration that brings together clinicians, public health specialists and basic scientists from four key agencies, the National University of Singapore (NUS), the National Healthcare Group, SingHealth and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, to try and outfox the wily bacteria.
Singapore has one of the world's highest rates of diabetes. Foot infections in diabetic patients result in 700 amputations a year. Singapore has the opportunity to take a regional leadership role in this growing global problem.
Almost every one of us has a relative or friend with diabetes and this is clearly a fertile field for research that can benefit Singapore and beyond. This is a major public health crisis and one that demands a multi-disciplinary approach.
At the National University Hospital (NUH), the multi-disciplinary team - comprising an endocrinologist, an orthopaedic surgeon, a podiatrist, specialist nurse and microvascular reconstructive surgeon, and an infectious disease specialist - works to reduce the morbidity and mortality rates of patients with diabetic foot problems.
Finally, mention infectious diseases and everyone thinks of dengue, malaria, tuberculosis and typhoid. These are the 'classic infectious diseases' of old in which Singapore has a strong track record in clinical and basic science research.
Singapore has a dengue consortium probably among the world's largest collection of dengue researchers, in an innovative collaboration between industry, hospital-based clinicians and basic scientists from universities and research institutes here.
The newly formed Singapore malaria network, comprising members from the NUS, Nanyang Technological University and the Singapore Immunology Network, is another exceptional collaborative effort between scientists and engineers looking at new ways to diagnose and treat one of the world's deadliest infections, albeit a distant memory for most Singaporeans.
Tuberculosis is another area where Singapore has a long and distinguished history in research. The early UK Medical Research Council led trials conducted in Singapore General Hospital and Tan Tock Seng Hospital in the 1960s and 1970s which helped establish the basis for regimes used to treat tuberculosis worldwide today.
With the advent of extremely drug resistant tuberculosis (or XDR-TB), scientists and clinical researchers are facing new challenges from this very old disease.
The modern equivalent of the old infectious diseases which were 'hidden away' in sanatoria and lazarettos is HIV/Aids. We have excellent HIV/Aids clinical researchers at CDC-TTSH and the other hospitals but we need more basic scientists to step up to the challenge of HIV research.
This is a growing problem here and in the region. HIV/Aids is a microcosm of the challenges facing infectious disease researchers.
While there has been much progress since the identification of the virus which came to Singapore within a few years after the initial US reports, there are huge scientific questions yet to be answered in terms of the virus and its biology.
There are also major health services research questions as we try to deliver the therapeutic advances made elsewhere to our fellow Singaporeans, and even more challenging humanitarian questions as we examine our own personal prejudices, fears, anxieties and hopes.
The writer is Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS, and Head, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, NUH
Regional role in fighting infecrious diseases
Nov 24, 2007
Waging war against infectious diseases
Top scientist says S'pore can't be free of these diseases unless region does its part
By Shobana Kesava
INFECTIOUS disease expert Duane Gubler, 68, puts himself in the front line in the war he wages.
He has been infected at least thrice with dengue, thrice with malaria and even deliberately infected himself with the filiarisis worm which causes elephantiasis - to better understand the disease.
He caught the two mosquito-borne diseases while trying to lure mosquitoes into biting monkeys, and while out in the field.
The former director of the vector-borne infectious diseases division at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is now here to take research in these areas to the next level.
'The world is about 30 years behind in infectious diseases research because we thought we conquered them in the 1960s...Resources were moved into the war on other diseases like cancer.'
Ironically, scientists have discovered that certain cancers such as stomach cancer are, in fact, caused by the infectious diseases that have been neglected for decades.
Professor Gubler runs the Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases in Hawaii.
He is, from this month, concurrently heading the signature research programme in emerging infectious diseases at the Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School (Duke-NUS).
His plans for Singapore are ambitious - to set up the 'world's best laboratory for research and reference on Asian infectious diseases'.
Tens of millions will go into the laboratory, and with government support, money is not an issue, he said.
Good research will rope in funding from groups like the National Institutes of Health in the US and the Gates Foundation, he said.
The Government has declared its commitment to a concerted effort to fight infectious diseases. It will work with regional countries.
Duke-NUS will have about 70 investigators looking at areas such as metabolic disease, and will train students from the region too.
Field laboratories will also be set up in Asian countries, such as China and Vietnam, where there are emerging infectious diseases.
A key goal will be to develop an early warning disease detection system across Asia.
Singapore cannot be free of infectious disease, Prof Gubler noted, unless the region does its part.
While it is not known what the next epidemic will be, he is almost certain it will be a 'zoonotic' - a disease transmitted from animal to man - as was the case with severe acute respiratory syndrome, which was traced to civet cats.
Prof Gubler plans to spend most of his time in Singapore from next September, until the lab runs smoothly.
He said: 'Not only Asia needs it but the world needs it.'
skesava@sph.com.sg
Waging war against infectious diseases
Top scientist says S'pore can't be free of these diseases unless region does its part
By Shobana Kesava
INFECTIOUS disease expert Duane Gubler, 68, puts himself in the front line in the war he wages.
He has been infected at least thrice with dengue, thrice with malaria and even deliberately infected himself with the filiarisis worm which causes elephantiasis - to better understand the disease.
He caught the two mosquito-borne diseases while trying to lure mosquitoes into biting monkeys, and while out in the field.
The former director of the vector-borne infectious diseases division at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is now here to take research in these areas to the next level.
'The world is about 30 years behind in infectious diseases research because we thought we conquered them in the 1960s...Resources were moved into the war on other diseases like cancer.'
Ironically, scientists have discovered that certain cancers such as stomach cancer are, in fact, caused by the infectious diseases that have been neglected for decades.
Professor Gubler runs the Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases in Hawaii.
He is, from this month, concurrently heading the signature research programme in emerging infectious diseases at the Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School (Duke-NUS).
His plans for Singapore are ambitious - to set up the 'world's best laboratory for research and reference on Asian infectious diseases'.
Tens of millions will go into the laboratory, and with government support, money is not an issue, he said.
Good research will rope in funding from groups like the National Institutes of Health in the US and the Gates Foundation, he said.
The Government has declared its commitment to a concerted effort to fight infectious diseases. It will work with regional countries.
Duke-NUS will have about 70 investigators looking at areas such as metabolic disease, and will train students from the region too.
Field laboratories will also be set up in Asian countries, such as China and Vietnam, where there are emerging infectious diseases.
A key goal will be to develop an early warning disease detection system across Asia.
Singapore cannot be free of infectious disease, Prof Gubler noted, unless the region does its part.
While it is not known what the next epidemic will be, he is almost certain it will be a 'zoonotic' - a disease transmitted from animal to man - as was the case with severe acute respiratory syndrome, which was traced to civet cats.
Prof Gubler plans to spend most of his time in Singapore from next September, until the lab runs smoothly.
He said: 'Not only Asia needs it but the world needs it.'
skesava@sph.com.sg
Hyflux
Nov 24, 2007
Hyflux Water Trust takes the plunge despite weak market
Business unit prices IPO shares at 78 cents each, at the low end of its indicative price range
By Yang Huiwen
POOR market sentiment has forced water treatment firm Hyflux to price the initial public offering (IPO) of its water business trust at the low end of its price range.
Units in Hyflux Water Trust (HWT) - the first 'pure-play global water business trust' to be listed in Asia - will cost 78 cents each. The indicative price range in its prospectus was at 78 cents to 91 cents apiece.
The HWT offering consists of 165 million units, with at least 30 million available to the public.
The listing is expected to raise about $234 million, which the company plans to use to finance acquisitions, development and construction costs of plants, and as working capital.
Hyflux has decided to stick to its guns and go ahead with HWT's IPO, despite recent weak market sentiments sparked by credit woes across global financial institutions.
'The demand for waste-water treatment is huge. Those market fundamentals will remain and continue to drive opportunities for growth, and that is a very good basis for us to launch this trust,' said Mr Saud Siddique, chief executive of Hyflux Water Trust Management.
Hyflux chief financial officer Sam Ong added: 'What we have observed, and in terms of feedback, is that this is a very strong theme, which is able to see through the volatility of the market.'
The trust will distribute dividends of 4.46 cents per unit next year and 5.26 cents apiece in 2009.
Hyflux will inject 13 water plants in China - three treatment plants, eight waste-water treatment plants and two recycling facilities - to form HWT's initial portfolio.
With each plant having an estimated 20- to 30-year tenure, shareholders will be able to expect long-term, predictable distributions, said the trust's manager.
The trust will expand its portfolio through acquisitions from Hyflux, as well as from outside Hyflux.
It will seek opportunities in other 'high-growth markets', including India, the Middle East and North Africa, said Mr Siddique.
HWT's management will be able to acquire any of Hyflux's 20 water-related infrastructure assets under its rights of first offer and first refusal.
The management fee will be linked to the operating performance of the trust in terms of earnings rather than its share price performance.
The fee clarification came after City-Spring Infrastructure Trust was criticised earlier this year when its managers were paid hefty fees despite the trust's underperformance.
HWT's management fee will be pegged to an adjusted Ebitda - earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. This will reflect the operational performance of the assets.
The offer opens for application at noon today and closes at noon on Wednesday. Trading is expected to start on Dec 3.
yanghw@sph.com.sg
Hyflux Water Trust takes the plunge despite weak market
Business unit prices IPO shares at 78 cents each, at the low end of its indicative price range
By Yang Huiwen
POOR market sentiment has forced water treatment firm Hyflux to price the initial public offering (IPO) of its water business trust at the low end of its price range.
Units in Hyflux Water Trust (HWT) - the first 'pure-play global water business trust' to be listed in Asia - will cost 78 cents each. The indicative price range in its prospectus was at 78 cents to 91 cents apiece.
The HWT offering consists of 165 million units, with at least 30 million available to the public.
The listing is expected to raise about $234 million, which the company plans to use to finance acquisitions, development and construction costs of plants, and as working capital.
Hyflux has decided to stick to its guns and go ahead with HWT's IPO, despite recent weak market sentiments sparked by credit woes across global financial institutions.
'The demand for waste-water treatment is huge. Those market fundamentals will remain and continue to drive opportunities for growth, and that is a very good basis for us to launch this trust,' said Mr Saud Siddique, chief executive of Hyflux Water Trust Management.
Hyflux chief financial officer Sam Ong added: 'What we have observed, and in terms of feedback, is that this is a very strong theme, which is able to see through the volatility of the market.'
The trust will distribute dividends of 4.46 cents per unit next year and 5.26 cents apiece in 2009.
Hyflux will inject 13 water plants in China - three treatment plants, eight waste-water treatment plants and two recycling facilities - to form HWT's initial portfolio.
With each plant having an estimated 20- to 30-year tenure, shareholders will be able to expect long-term, predictable distributions, said the trust's manager.
The trust will expand its portfolio through acquisitions from Hyflux, as well as from outside Hyflux.
It will seek opportunities in other 'high-growth markets', including India, the Middle East and North Africa, said Mr Siddique.
HWT's management will be able to acquire any of Hyflux's 20 water-related infrastructure assets under its rights of first offer and first refusal.
The management fee will be linked to the operating performance of the trust in terms of earnings rather than its share price performance.
The fee clarification came after City-Spring Infrastructure Trust was criticised earlier this year when its managers were paid hefty fees despite the trust's underperformance.
HWT's management fee will be pegged to an adjusted Ebitda - earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. This will reflect the operational performance of the assets.
The offer opens for application at noon today and closes at noon on Wednesday. Trading is expected to start on Dec 3.
yanghw@sph.com.sg
Malaysian rebuttals
Nov 23, 2007
Rebuttals by Malaysia turn out to be a surprise
It countered few of the new arguments raised by Singapore
IN ITS final pleadings on Pedra Branca before an international court, Malaysia surprisingly rebutted few of the fresh points raised by Singapore earlier this week.
It chose instead to restate its chief argument that the Johor sultanate possessed the original title to Pedra Branca.
Malaysia's counsel offered no substantive response to a new argument Singapore fleshed out on Monday and Tuesday, upon which the verdict in the case could well hang.
What Singapore did was to tell the court that if neither side could prove it had title to the disputed island, then Singapore's claim must prevail because it was the only one with state activities on Pedra Branca in the past 150 years.
On Thursday, a day set aside for Malaysia's rebuttals, its counsel James Crawford said the shift in the Singapore position showed that 'doubts have set in'.
But he quickly moved on to other issues, after promising to return to the matter in the final half of Malaysia's rebuttals (which was set to end late on Friday night, Singapore time).
There was no response either to Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar's speech on Monday, in which he rebutted five allegations Malaysia levelled at Singapore last week, including a charge that Singapore had concealed letters from the court.
As for a brewing controversy over Malaysia's use of a photograph taken from a suspect blog, that was brushed aside by one counsel as 'not worth discussing'.
Singapore and Malaysia are appearing before the International Court of Justice to resolve their dispute over the sovereignty of Pedra Branca, an island 40km east of Singapore which stands at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait.
Malaysia's stand is that the Johor sultanate possessed the title to Pedra Branca - which it calls Pulau Batu Puteh - from time immemorial.
It claims the Johor rulers gave permission to Britain to build and operate a lighthouse there, and that Singapore continued to do so after it gained independence.
Singapore disputes that.
It argues that Pedra Branca was terra nullius, that is, it belonged to no one, when the British took lawful possession of it in 1847 and built the Horsburgh Lighthouse there.
In the 160 years since, Britain and then Singapore have confirmed and maintained their title through a series of actions that were an open, continuous and effective display of state authority, it told the court.
In restating Malaysia's case on Thursday, its lawyers said Singapore had failed to prove that Pedra Branca was terra nullius in the 1840s.
They said that Orang Laut, or sea gypsies, who paid allegiance to the Sultan of Johor, had fished in the waters around Pedra Branca for centuries.
That showed the island could not be terra nullius, they added, but belonged to the Johor ruler.
But Singapore, in its rebuttal, had noted that not all the Orang Laut in the area paid allegiance to the Johor Sultan.
It also pointed out that the Orang Laut's fishing activities were private acts which, under international law, have no bearing on sovereignty. Only state activities, such as those carried out by Singapore, do.
On Thursday, Malaysia's counsel, Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, ridiculed Singapore's argument that the British intended to claim sovereignty over Pedra Branca when they went and built a lighthouse there in 1847.
'What they wanted was a light. The addition of so small an item to the vast British empire never entered their minds,' he said.
The hearing ends once Malaysia wraps up its rebuttals (set to end late last night, Singapore time).
The verdict on the case is expected next year.
Rebuttals by Malaysia turn out to be a surprise
It countered few of the new arguments raised by Singapore
IN ITS final pleadings on Pedra Branca before an international court, Malaysia surprisingly rebutted few of the fresh points raised by Singapore earlier this week.
It chose instead to restate its chief argument that the Johor sultanate possessed the original title to Pedra Branca.
Malaysia's counsel offered no substantive response to a new argument Singapore fleshed out on Monday and Tuesday, upon which the verdict in the case could well hang.
What Singapore did was to tell the court that if neither side could prove it had title to the disputed island, then Singapore's claim must prevail because it was the only one with state activities on Pedra Branca in the past 150 years.
On Thursday, a day set aside for Malaysia's rebuttals, its counsel James Crawford said the shift in the Singapore position showed that 'doubts have set in'.
But he quickly moved on to other issues, after promising to return to the matter in the final half of Malaysia's rebuttals (which was set to end late on Friday night, Singapore time).
There was no response either to Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar's speech on Monday, in which he rebutted five allegations Malaysia levelled at Singapore last week, including a charge that Singapore had concealed letters from the court.
As for a brewing controversy over Malaysia's use of a photograph taken from a suspect blog, that was brushed aside by one counsel as 'not worth discussing'.
Singapore and Malaysia are appearing before the International Court of Justice to resolve their dispute over the sovereignty of Pedra Branca, an island 40km east of Singapore which stands at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Strait.
Malaysia's stand is that the Johor sultanate possessed the title to Pedra Branca - which it calls Pulau Batu Puteh - from time immemorial.
It claims the Johor rulers gave permission to Britain to build and operate a lighthouse there, and that Singapore continued to do so after it gained independence.
Singapore disputes that.
It argues that Pedra Branca was terra nullius, that is, it belonged to no one, when the British took lawful possession of it in 1847 and built the Horsburgh Lighthouse there.
In the 160 years since, Britain and then Singapore have confirmed and maintained their title through a series of actions that were an open, continuous and effective display of state authority, it told the court.
In restating Malaysia's case on Thursday, its lawyers said Singapore had failed to prove that Pedra Branca was terra nullius in the 1840s.
They said that Orang Laut, or sea gypsies, who paid allegiance to the Sultan of Johor, had fished in the waters around Pedra Branca for centuries.
That showed the island could not be terra nullius, they added, but belonged to the Johor ruler.
But Singapore, in its rebuttal, had noted that not all the Orang Laut in the area paid allegiance to the Johor Sultan.
It also pointed out that the Orang Laut's fishing activities were private acts which, under international law, have no bearing on sovereignty. Only state activities, such as those carried out by Singapore, do.
On Thursday, Malaysia's counsel, Sir Elihu Lauterpacht, ridiculed Singapore's argument that the British intended to claim sovereignty over Pedra Branca when they went and built a lighthouse there in 1847.
'What they wanted was a light. The addition of so small an item to the vast British empire never entered their minds,' he said.
The hearing ends once Malaysia wraps up its rebuttals (set to end late last night, Singapore time).
The verdict on the case is expected next year.
Role of main media in a sea of blogs and videos
Nov 23, 2007
Old media still has vital role: Minister
Mainstream media's 'strongest value proposition': professionalism and objectivity
By Li Xueying
THE sea of blogs, chatrooms and YouTube videos has led many to predict all doom and gloom for the mainstream media.
But Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, cast a different light on the battle on Friday.
He believes the mainstream media (MSM) can stand up to the challenge of new media with what he sees as its 'strongest value proposition' to consumers: professionalism and objectivity.
'MSM will have to fall back on the time-tested value of providing timely, reliable and accurate news and reports, as well as insightful and informed analyses in a responsible manner,' he said,
Dr Lee was addressing some 100 journalists - both local and foreign - including those who are in town to cover the Asean Summit this week, at his ministry's annual press cocktail.
At the same time, he added, the Singapore media must continue to play its critical role in 'strengthening social cohesion and resilience'.
This model has served Singapore well in the past; it will remain important going forward, he noted. This is particularly so in a world where foreign influences - good or bad - are transmitted across increasingly porous borders.
Said Dr Lee: 'The Singapore media has a heavy and responsible role in our nation-building effort. Economic viability and social stability are vital for Singapore's continued progress and success.
'In a world where the borders are becoming increasingly porous and foreign influences, good and bad, are carried to our shores by the rising tide, we should not forsake what has worked well for us for the past four decades.
'When we have to grapple with the threat of self-radicalisation resulting from the spread of religious, extremism and terrorism ideology through the Internet, we must not jettison the media's critical role in strengthening social cohesion and resilience.'
Therefore, in an age of new media, the Singapore media has 'an even more important role' to inform with objective and responsible news coverage and analyses, to better prepare Singaporeans for engaging an interconnected and globalised world, he said.
For in this world, consumers are inundated with a flood of information.
'When you venture into new media space, separating the wheat from the chaff is perhaps the most challenging exercise,' he said.
Speaking in reaction, Lianhe Zaobao political editor Poh Say Teck, 48, said the media can play its nation-building role and yet not be a government mouthpiece.
'It has to be a two-way expressway, where we help the Government explain its policies, and at the same time, ensure that we reflect feedback from Singaporeans that may help change policies.
'If it's just a one-way traffic, we lose our credibility.'
Dr Lee also touched on the image of Singapore as portrayed by the foreign media. Changes such as the upcoming integrated resorts and the bid for the Youth Olympic Games have been 'positively featured', he said.
It is also not just focusing on political, economic and financial stories, but other changes such as on the arts and culture, said Dr Lee, citing the Smithsonian magazine, which had an article headlined 'Singapore Swing'.
Ms Lu Qing, 40, from China Radio International, said more events like the recent Singapore Season in Shanghai will help promote the Republic as a vibrant and creative city.
'Many China tourists are in Singapore for just a day or two, so they won't get a full flavour of what Singapore has to offer. So such events will be very useful.'
Old media still has vital role: Minister
Mainstream media's 'strongest value proposition': professionalism and objectivity
By Li Xueying
THE sea of blogs, chatrooms and YouTube videos has led many to predict all doom and gloom for the mainstream media.
But Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, cast a different light on the battle on Friday.
He believes the mainstream media (MSM) can stand up to the challenge of new media with what he sees as its 'strongest value proposition' to consumers: professionalism and objectivity.
'MSM will have to fall back on the time-tested value of providing timely, reliable and accurate news and reports, as well as insightful and informed analyses in a responsible manner,' he said,
Dr Lee was addressing some 100 journalists - both local and foreign - including those who are in town to cover the Asean Summit this week, at his ministry's annual press cocktail.
At the same time, he added, the Singapore media must continue to play its critical role in 'strengthening social cohesion and resilience'.
This model has served Singapore well in the past; it will remain important going forward, he noted. This is particularly so in a world where foreign influences - good or bad - are transmitted across increasingly porous borders.
Said Dr Lee: 'The Singapore media has a heavy and responsible role in our nation-building effort. Economic viability and social stability are vital for Singapore's continued progress and success.
'In a world where the borders are becoming increasingly porous and foreign influences, good and bad, are carried to our shores by the rising tide, we should not forsake what has worked well for us for the past four decades.
'When we have to grapple with the threat of self-radicalisation resulting from the spread of religious, extremism and terrorism ideology through the Internet, we must not jettison the media's critical role in strengthening social cohesion and resilience.'
Therefore, in an age of new media, the Singapore media has 'an even more important role' to inform with objective and responsible news coverage and analyses, to better prepare Singaporeans for engaging an interconnected and globalised world, he said.
For in this world, consumers are inundated with a flood of information.
'When you venture into new media space, separating the wheat from the chaff is perhaps the most challenging exercise,' he said.
Speaking in reaction, Lianhe Zaobao political editor Poh Say Teck, 48, said the media can play its nation-building role and yet not be a government mouthpiece.
'It has to be a two-way expressway, where we help the Government explain its policies, and at the same time, ensure that we reflect feedback from Singaporeans that may help change policies.
'If it's just a one-way traffic, we lose our credibility.'
Dr Lee also touched on the image of Singapore as portrayed by the foreign media. Changes such as the upcoming integrated resorts and the bid for the Youth Olympic Games have been 'positively featured', he said.
It is also not just focusing on political, economic and financial stories, but other changes such as on the arts and culture, said Dr Lee, citing the Smithsonian magazine, which had an article headlined 'Singapore Swing'.
Ms Lu Qing, 40, from China Radio International, said more events like the recent Singapore Season in Shanghai will help promote the Republic as a vibrant and creative city.
'Many China tourists are in Singapore for just a day or two, so they won't get a full flavour of what Singapore has to offer. So such events will be very useful.'
Sg-Tianjin Ecocity project
How Tianjin won tough fight to be an eco-city
By Tracy Quek, China Correspondent
TIANJIN - FLAT, marshy tracts of undeveloped land, dotted with salt pans - this desolate north-eastern corner of Tianjin municipality may not look like much today, but over the next two decades, it will undergo a dramatic transformation.
This is what could emerge: a 30sqkm township, not unlike a large housing estate in Singapore such as Pasir Ris, but built using the latest 'green' technologies and designed with the best environmentally-friendly concepts in mind, such as state-of-the-art water recycling and waste treatment systems.
A thriving community of some 300,000 residents will live and work in energy-efficient buildings in this area, located within the Han Gu and Tang Gu districts of Tianjin's Binhai New Area.
This is the vision for the eco-city that Singapore and China this week have committed to build when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited the city state.
When completed, it will not only be a showcase for sustainable development, but also a template for Chinese cities struggling to balance rapid economic growth with environmental protection.
Given the political prestige and economic potential involved, it was no surprise that dozens of Chinese cities lobbied intensely to host this new flagship project the minute word got out in April.
That was when Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong raised the idea of an eco-city for the very first time during a meeting with Mr Wen in Beijing.
Chinese cities hoping to be picked for the new project deluged government departments in Beijing and their Singapore contacts with calls.
At the Construction Ministry, the lead Chinese government agency overseeing the project, phones had to be taken off the hook.
Mainland-based observers said the project is immensely attractive for two main reasons: the Singapore brand name, and its perfect timing.
Top Chinese leaders have made it a priority for the country to shift its inefficient and polluting mode of growth towards a more balanced form of development - meaning the eco-city project will get Beijing's full backing.
The project also comes as Singapore's strengths in environmental services and technology, in areas such as water treatment and sanitation, for example, are maturing.
Despite the lobbying, Beijing narrowed down the choice to four cities: Tianjin; Caofeidian Industrial Park in northern Hebei province's Tangshan city; Baotou city, an industrial base in Inner Mongolia; and Urumqi, capital city of western Xinjiang province.
The list was based on two conditions - that the project should not occupy agricultural land, and must be in an area where water is scarce. But it was apparent early on that Tianjin and Caofeidian were the only genuine options.
'Some said Baotou and Urumqi were red herrings,' said a person close to discussions, noting that Tianjin and Caofeidian are not only superior in terms of economic potential, but also most likely to meet Singapore's conditions.
SM Goh had said that for the eco-city to succeed, it should be commercially viable, as well as replicable elsewhere in China. This meant that sites with extreme or unusual geographical conditions were less attractive.
The ensuing competition between the two cities was fierce. Local officials conducted flawless presentations complete with glossy brochures.
In September, Tangshan party chief Zhao Yong and Mr Gou Lijun, director of Binhai New Area's administrative committee, flew separately to Singapore to personally drum up support for their bids.
Differing views over the choice of cities also surfaced during the discussions of the Singapore team of officials and experts from the Ministry of National Development and Keppel Corporation, which is leading a consortium of Singapore companies in the project.
Keppel experts included veterans who had worked on the Suzhou Industrial Park, today considered a 'model' for other parks in China.
Tianjin is attractive because of the high-level government support for the development of Binhai, which has been designated as a new growth engine for northern China. Its proximity to the political nerve centre of Beijing is also considered a major plus.
But Caofeidian is no slouch either, and is fast on its way to becoming China's biggest steel, energy and petrochemical hub. If built here, the eco-city would benefit from the local government's undivided attention. There are already plans to relocate its administrative functions, university and central business district to Caofeidian.
To ensure an objective evaluation, Singapore gave both cities a questionnaire of more than 20 questions - such as how accessible the site would be and how it would figure in future development plans - and tabulated scores based on their replies.
'This was deliberately done as this was not a beauty contest where you made a choice based on your personal preferences,' said the source.
Though the two cities were neck-and-neck for much of the seven-month-long negotiations, it emerged in the past month that Tianjin was edging ahead. It eventually won out in the overall assessment by less than 10 per cent.
Still, deliberations went on with just days to go before Premier Wen was to sign the agreement with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Both sides locked down their final preference only last Wednesday afternoon as they settled on the final wording of the agreements. Underscoring the project's high priority, the draft agreements were cleared by China's Cabinet in record time so that they could be signed in Singapore on Sunday.
Picking the right site is crucial for a higher chance of success, said another person involved in the negotiations.
But there is much work to be done ahead, he said.
'There's no turning back, we have to make this a success.'
tracyq@sph.com.sg
By Tracy Quek, China Correspondent
TIANJIN - FLAT, marshy tracts of undeveloped land, dotted with salt pans - this desolate north-eastern corner of Tianjin municipality may not look like much today, but over the next two decades, it will undergo a dramatic transformation.
This is what could emerge: a 30sqkm township, not unlike a large housing estate in Singapore such as Pasir Ris, but built using the latest 'green' technologies and designed with the best environmentally-friendly concepts in mind, such as state-of-the-art water recycling and waste treatment systems.
A thriving community of some 300,000 residents will live and work in energy-efficient buildings in this area, located within the Han Gu and Tang Gu districts of Tianjin's Binhai New Area.
This is the vision for the eco-city that Singapore and China this week have committed to build when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited the city state.
When completed, it will not only be a showcase for sustainable development, but also a template for Chinese cities struggling to balance rapid economic growth with environmental protection.
Given the political prestige and economic potential involved, it was no surprise that dozens of Chinese cities lobbied intensely to host this new flagship project the minute word got out in April.
That was when Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong raised the idea of an eco-city for the very first time during a meeting with Mr Wen in Beijing.
Chinese cities hoping to be picked for the new project deluged government departments in Beijing and their Singapore contacts with calls.
At the Construction Ministry, the lead Chinese government agency overseeing the project, phones had to be taken off the hook.
Mainland-based observers said the project is immensely attractive for two main reasons: the Singapore brand name, and its perfect timing.
Top Chinese leaders have made it a priority for the country to shift its inefficient and polluting mode of growth towards a more balanced form of development - meaning the eco-city project will get Beijing's full backing.
The project also comes as Singapore's strengths in environmental services and technology, in areas such as water treatment and sanitation, for example, are maturing.
Despite the lobbying, Beijing narrowed down the choice to four cities: Tianjin; Caofeidian Industrial Park in northern Hebei province's Tangshan city; Baotou city, an industrial base in Inner Mongolia; and Urumqi, capital city of western Xinjiang province.
The list was based on two conditions - that the project should not occupy agricultural land, and must be in an area where water is scarce. But it was apparent early on that Tianjin and Caofeidian were the only genuine options.
'Some said Baotou and Urumqi were red herrings,' said a person close to discussions, noting that Tianjin and Caofeidian are not only superior in terms of economic potential, but also most likely to meet Singapore's conditions.
SM Goh had said that for the eco-city to succeed, it should be commercially viable, as well as replicable elsewhere in China. This meant that sites with extreme or unusual geographical conditions were less attractive.
The ensuing competition between the two cities was fierce. Local officials conducted flawless presentations complete with glossy brochures.
In September, Tangshan party chief Zhao Yong and Mr Gou Lijun, director of Binhai New Area's administrative committee, flew separately to Singapore to personally drum up support for their bids.
Differing views over the choice of cities also surfaced during the discussions of the Singapore team of officials and experts from the Ministry of National Development and Keppel Corporation, which is leading a consortium of Singapore companies in the project.
Keppel experts included veterans who had worked on the Suzhou Industrial Park, today considered a 'model' for other parks in China.
Tianjin is attractive because of the high-level government support for the development of Binhai, which has been designated as a new growth engine for northern China. Its proximity to the political nerve centre of Beijing is also considered a major plus.
But Caofeidian is no slouch either, and is fast on its way to becoming China's biggest steel, energy and petrochemical hub. If built here, the eco-city would benefit from the local government's undivided attention. There are already plans to relocate its administrative functions, university and central business district to Caofeidian.
To ensure an objective evaluation, Singapore gave both cities a questionnaire of more than 20 questions - such as how accessible the site would be and how it would figure in future development plans - and tabulated scores based on their replies.
'This was deliberately done as this was not a beauty contest where you made a choice based on your personal preferences,' said the source.
Though the two cities were neck-and-neck for much of the seven-month-long negotiations, it emerged in the past month that Tianjin was edging ahead. It eventually won out in the overall assessment by less than 10 per cent.
Still, deliberations went on with just days to go before Premier Wen was to sign the agreement with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Both sides locked down their final preference only last Wednesday afternoon as they settled on the final wording of the agreements. Underscoring the project's high priority, the draft agreements were cleared by China's Cabinet in record time so that they could be signed in Singapore on Sunday.
Picking the right site is crucial for a higher chance of success, said another person involved in the negotiations.
But there is much work to be done ahead, he said.
'There's no turning back, we have to make this a success.'
tracyq@sph.com.sg
10 good reasons - Pedra Branca
Nov 21, 2007
All the pieces in Singapore's case 'fit perfectly together'
Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh summed up Singapore's case yesterday by highlighting the 10 key points of its arguments. He said these were pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly together to show Singapore has sovereignty over Pedra Branca. Here is Ambassador Koh's summing-up of Singapore's case
FIRST, Singapore has shown that in 1847, Pedra Branca was terra nullius. Malaysia disputes this and argues that it was not terra nullius but was part of the Sultanate of Johor.
Malaysia has, however, failed to produce any evidence that this particular island, Pedra Branca, was subject to the sovereignty of Johor. Malaysia has failed to prove her only argument, that she has a historic title to Pedra Branca.
She has failed to show that: (a) Pedra Branca was part of the Johor Sultanate; and (b) that any original title had been transmitted to the State of Johor.
Second, Singapore had shown that from 1847 to 1851, Britain was in possession of Pedra Branca without the consent of any native ruler.
Malaysia argues that she had given permission to Britain for the construction of the lighthouse on Pedra Branca.
Again, she has not provided any evidence of such permission. All that Malaysia relies on are indirect inferences from letters which do not even mention Pedra Branca.
Third, Singapore has shown that in the period, 1847 to 1851, the British acquired sovereignty over Pedra Branca by satisfying the two requisite criteria: animus or intention, and corpus or activities undertaken � titre de souverain.
Malaysia has repeated ad nauseam her argument that the British lacked the animus and the corpus and that all the activities undertaken by them were merely concerned with the construction of a lighthouse.
The Malaysian argument is flawed and remains so no matter how many times it is repeated.
Fourth, from 1847 to 1979, a period of over 130 years, Singapore's sovereignty over Pedra Branca was open, continuous and notorious. It was acknowledged by all concerned and challenged by none.
It was only in 1979, when, like a bolt out of the blue, Malaysia published her infamous map which claimed, for the very first time, that Pedra Branca belonged to her.
Fifth, in 1953, when Johor was a sovereign State under international law, the State Secretary of Johor, writing in an official capacity, informed the Singapore Government that, 'the Johore Government does not claim ownership of Pedra Branca'.
This disclaimer is binding on Malaysia under international law. Malaysia is clearly embarrassed by this disclaimer.
Discarding her earlier argument that the disclaimer 'is not a model of clarity', Malaysia has invented a new argument, which is that Singapore is seeking to use the letter as the root of her title.
But this has never been Singapore's case. Singapore's case is that the disclaimer confirms Singapore's title and is further evidence that Johor has no prior title.
Sixth, in 1968, three years after Singapore separated from Malaysia, the Malaysian government demanded that Singapore should lower its marine ensign from its lighthouse in Pulau Pisang. Since Pulau Pisang was under Malaysian sovereignty, Singapore promptly complied with Malaysia's request.
However, Malaysia failed to make the same demand with respect to the flying of the Singapore marine ensign on Pedra Branca. Malaysia's conduct is recognition of Singapore's sovereignty over Pedra Branca.
Seventh, between 1962 and 1975, Malaysia published six maps which attributed Pedra Branca to Singapore. Singapore never published a single map, not one, attributing the island to Malaysia.
Eighth, Malaysia has argued that Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge should not be treated as a group but as three separate and distinct maritime features. This is an untenable argument.
The truth is that for reasons of proximity, geology, history and law, the three features are inseparable and must be treated together. Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks constitute a group.
South Ledge is a low-tide elevation within the territorial sea of Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks and its fate must necessarily follow that of Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks.
Ninth, Malaysia has repeatedly argued that this case is about title and not about competing effectivites. This is not correct.
Singapore's case is that Pedra Branca was terra nullius in 1847 and that we had acquired sovereignty over the island between 1847 and 1851 and have maintained it ever since.
However, should the Court find that the title to Pedra Branca were indeterminate at that time, and were to examine the competing effectivites of the two parties, Singapore has clearly shown that it has sovereignty.
I can understand why Malaysia would be concerned if the Court were to decide to walk down this path. The reason is that Malaysia has zero effectivites.
Tenth, Malaysia has, in the first round, said that Singapore may continue to own and operate the Horsburgh Lighthouse should sovereignty over Pedra Branca be awarded to her. This may sound magnanimous, but make no mistake, it is really an attempt by Malaysia to change a legal order which has existed for 160 years.
Mr President and Members of the Court, the evidence in this case presents a remarkably consistent picture. All of Singapore's actions are entirely consistent with that of a country that has sovereignty over Pedra Branca.
In contrast, all of Malaysia's actions (and inactions) are entirely consistent with that of a country which has no title over Pedra Branca.
In fact, all the pieces of the puzzle fit neatly together. The picture that emerges is that Singapore has sovereignty over Pedra Branca.
The British activities from 1847 to 1851, in taking lawful possession of the island, are simply the other side of the coin of the complete absence of Johor's original title or of any sovereign acts by Johor on the island.
Singapore's continuous stream of sovereign activities on Pedra Branca and within its territorial waters, from 1851 to the present, is the reverse side of the coin of the complete absence of any Malaysian effectivites on the island at all relevant time.
Singapore's actions were open and public and are the counterpart to Malaysia's silence in the face of these activities over a period of 130 years.
Malaysia's official disclaimer in 1953 and its series of official maps attributing the island to Singapore are further confirmation of this picture. The whole story fits perfectly together.
There can therefore be no doubt that Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge belong to Singapore.
All the pieces in Singapore's case 'fit perfectly together'
Ambassador-at-large Tommy Koh summed up Singapore's case yesterday by highlighting the 10 key points of its arguments. He said these were pieces of a puzzle that fit perfectly together to show Singapore has sovereignty over Pedra Branca. Here is Ambassador Koh's summing-up of Singapore's case
FIRST, Singapore has shown that in 1847, Pedra Branca was terra nullius. Malaysia disputes this and argues that it was not terra nullius but was part of the Sultanate of Johor.
Malaysia has, however, failed to produce any evidence that this particular island, Pedra Branca, was subject to the sovereignty of Johor. Malaysia has failed to prove her only argument, that she has a historic title to Pedra Branca.
She has failed to show that: (a) Pedra Branca was part of the Johor Sultanate; and (b) that any original title had been transmitted to the State of Johor.
Second, Singapore had shown that from 1847 to 1851, Britain was in possession of Pedra Branca without the consent of any native ruler.
Malaysia argues that she had given permission to Britain for the construction of the lighthouse on Pedra Branca.
Again, she has not provided any evidence of such permission. All that Malaysia relies on are indirect inferences from letters which do not even mention Pedra Branca.
Third, Singapore has shown that in the period, 1847 to 1851, the British acquired sovereignty over Pedra Branca by satisfying the two requisite criteria: animus or intention, and corpus or activities undertaken � titre de souverain.
Malaysia has repeated ad nauseam her argument that the British lacked the animus and the corpus and that all the activities undertaken by them were merely concerned with the construction of a lighthouse.
The Malaysian argument is flawed and remains so no matter how many times it is repeated.
Fourth, from 1847 to 1979, a period of over 130 years, Singapore's sovereignty over Pedra Branca was open, continuous and notorious. It was acknowledged by all concerned and challenged by none.
It was only in 1979, when, like a bolt out of the blue, Malaysia published her infamous map which claimed, for the very first time, that Pedra Branca belonged to her.
Fifth, in 1953, when Johor was a sovereign State under international law, the State Secretary of Johor, writing in an official capacity, informed the Singapore Government that, 'the Johore Government does not claim ownership of Pedra Branca'.
This disclaimer is binding on Malaysia under international law. Malaysia is clearly embarrassed by this disclaimer.
Discarding her earlier argument that the disclaimer 'is not a model of clarity', Malaysia has invented a new argument, which is that Singapore is seeking to use the letter as the root of her title.
But this has never been Singapore's case. Singapore's case is that the disclaimer confirms Singapore's title and is further evidence that Johor has no prior title.
Sixth, in 1968, three years after Singapore separated from Malaysia, the Malaysian government demanded that Singapore should lower its marine ensign from its lighthouse in Pulau Pisang. Since Pulau Pisang was under Malaysian sovereignty, Singapore promptly complied with Malaysia's request.
However, Malaysia failed to make the same demand with respect to the flying of the Singapore marine ensign on Pedra Branca. Malaysia's conduct is recognition of Singapore's sovereignty over Pedra Branca.
Seventh, between 1962 and 1975, Malaysia published six maps which attributed Pedra Branca to Singapore. Singapore never published a single map, not one, attributing the island to Malaysia.
Eighth, Malaysia has argued that Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge should not be treated as a group but as three separate and distinct maritime features. This is an untenable argument.
The truth is that for reasons of proximity, geology, history and law, the three features are inseparable and must be treated together. Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks constitute a group.
South Ledge is a low-tide elevation within the territorial sea of Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks and its fate must necessarily follow that of Pedra Branca and Middle Rocks.
Ninth, Malaysia has repeatedly argued that this case is about title and not about competing effectivites. This is not correct.
Singapore's case is that Pedra Branca was terra nullius in 1847 and that we had acquired sovereignty over the island between 1847 and 1851 and have maintained it ever since.
However, should the Court find that the title to Pedra Branca were indeterminate at that time, and were to examine the competing effectivites of the two parties, Singapore has clearly shown that it has sovereignty.
I can understand why Malaysia would be concerned if the Court were to decide to walk down this path. The reason is that Malaysia has zero effectivites.
Tenth, Malaysia has, in the first round, said that Singapore may continue to own and operate the Horsburgh Lighthouse should sovereignty over Pedra Branca be awarded to her. This may sound magnanimous, but make no mistake, it is really an attempt by Malaysia to change a legal order which has existed for 160 years.
Mr President and Members of the Court, the evidence in this case presents a remarkably consistent picture. All of Singapore's actions are entirely consistent with that of a country that has sovereignty over Pedra Branca.
In contrast, all of Malaysia's actions (and inactions) are entirely consistent with that of a country which has no title over Pedra Branca.
In fact, all the pieces of the puzzle fit neatly together. The picture that emerges is that Singapore has sovereignty over Pedra Branca.
The British activities from 1847 to 1851, in taking lawful possession of the island, are simply the other side of the coin of the complete absence of Johor's original title or of any sovereign acts by Johor on the island.
Singapore's continuous stream of sovereign activities on Pedra Branca and within its territorial waters, from 1851 to the present, is the reverse side of the coin of the complete absence of any Malaysian effectivites on the island at all relevant time.
Singapore's actions were open and public and are the counterpart to Malaysia's silence in the face of these activities over a period of 130 years.
Malaysia's official disclaimer in 1953 and its series of official maps attributing the island to Singapore are further confirmation of this picture. The whole story fits perfectly together.
There can therefore be no doubt that Pedra Branca, Middle Rocks and South Ledge belong to Singapore.
Nature Society expresses concerns about plans
Nov 21, 2007
Nature Society expresses concerns about plans
THE Nature Society has deep reservations about the Government's plan to release a new site in Mandai for a new tourist attraction.
Dr Ho Hua Chew, who chairs the society's conservation sub-committee, told The Straits Times yesterday that although the site was not part of the island's nature reserve, it was an important buffer zone for it.
He noted that a section of the reserve was already in bad shape, with gaps in the forest that robbed the animals of shelter.
Mandai Lake Road, for example, slices right through the area and has created the lack of 'connectors' that enable wildlife to move from one part of the reserve to another to forage for food, mates and shelter.
Any new development, therefore, will only further upset the fragile eco-balance of the nature reserve, which is home to rare animals like the leopard cat, the pangolin, the mouse deer and the sambhur deer, said Dr Ho.
When some of the Nature Society's concerns were put to Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Mr S. Iswaran, he replied that the new development should have minimal impact on the environment since that was going to be its key feature.
He added that the Government had consulted the relevant authorities and interest groups for their views, and would ensure that the developer understood that the place had to be 'sensitive to the environment'.
He added, however, that this would make costs 'a lot higher'.
The Nature Society is unconvinced that this 'sensitivity to the environment' is possible.
Dr Ho, who oversees the drawing up of a feedback report, said the society will submit it to the authorities by the middle of next week.
LIM WEI CHEAN
Nature Society expresses concerns about plans
THE Nature Society has deep reservations about the Government's plan to release a new site in Mandai for a new tourist attraction.
Dr Ho Hua Chew, who chairs the society's conservation sub-committee, told The Straits Times yesterday that although the site was not part of the island's nature reserve, it was an important buffer zone for it.
He noted that a section of the reserve was already in bad shape, with gaps in the forest that robbed the animals of shelter.
Mandai Lake Road, for example, slices right through the area and has created the lack of 'connectors' that enable wildlife to move from one part of the reserve to another to forage for food, mates and shelter.
Any new development, therefore, will only further upset the fragile eco-balance of the nature reserve, which is home to rare animals like the leopard cat, the pangolin, the mouse deer and the sambhur deer, said Dr Ho.
When some of the Nature Society's concerns were put to Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Mr S. Iswaran, he replied that the new development should have minimal impact on the environment since that was going to be its key feature.
He added that the Government had consulted the relevant authorities and interest groups for their views, and would ensure that the developer understood that the place had to be 'sensitive to the environment'.
He added, however, that this would make costs 'a lot higher'.
The Nature Society is unconvinced that this 'sensitivity to the environment' is possible.
Dr Ho, who oversees the drawing up of a feedback report, said the society will submit it to the authorities by the middle of next week.
LIM WEI CHEAN
Nov 21, 2007
UPFRONT
In Singapore, Myanmar activists keep within the law
By Zakir Hussain & Tracy Sua
ABOUT 40 Myanmar nationals were having coffee at the Starbucks cafe at Orchard Parade Hotel, or standing around nearby.
As the clock struck 7pm yesterday, they gathered silently and organised themselves in rows of three.
Dressed in red T-shirts, some of the men and women held up a banner that said: 'Listen to Burma's desires, don't follow junta's order.'
Others held up posters with messages targeting Myanmar's rulers, in town for this week's Asean Summit where a landmark Charter was inked.
'Signing Charter with generals makes Asean laughing stock,' said one. 'Asean has power to make a difference,' read another.
About 20 minutes later, a policeman approached one of them and asked to know the purpose of their gathering.
'We are going to go now,' the reply came.
And just as quickly as they had formed, they dispersed, while some of the 20 officers who had arrived took down their particulars.
Late last night, police said they would hold an investigation into possible offences committed by the protesters.
Yesterday's events were a sharp break from the previous restraint displayed by Myanmar activists, which even drew guarded praise from the police last month.
After a Myanmar protest by opposition politician Chee Soon Juan outside the Istana last month, the police issued a statement saying that 'in contrast to Chee's acts of civil disobedience, Singaporeans and Myanmar nationals in Singapore have organised themselves to express their sentiments and concern for the Myanmar situation in a lawful manner'.
Even the Myanmar demonstrators yesterday previously said they did not wish to break the law.
Business student Myo Myint Maung, 22, said: 'The Burmese community in Singapore has always paid utmost respect to the law of Singapore and even the mandate of Asean.
'Right now we feel that Asean, including the Singapore Government, is ignoring the desire and wishes of the Burmese people. That's why we come here to show our disappointment and discontent about it.'
The source of their dismay? Asean leaders' agreeing to respect Myanmar's wishes to deal with the United Nations directly itself, a decision that came late on Monday night.
Activists in the 30,000-strong Myanmar community here had been hopeful that Asean leaders would take a tough stand against the generals.
Now that UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari's planned briefing to Asean leaders had been cancelled at Yangon's request, demonstrators said they would like to meet the envoy.
The 30,000-strong Myanmar community here had been hardly noticed before September's clampdown on demonstrators by Myanmar's military.
At least once a fortnight since then, hundreds have gathered for updates on conditions back home and to discuss how they could help hasten the process of change in their homeland, which has been under tight military rule for 45 years.
The driving force behind these gatherings is a new group that was outraged by the brutal repression of monks and civilians protesting against military rule and rising prices.
The Overseas Burmese Patriots is a loose band led by about 20 students, professionals and workers here, some of whom demonstrated yesterday as well.
Their mission is best described in their slogan: 'We pursue peace, justice and democracy for Burma'.
It was emblazoned on the back of the signature red T-shirts worn yesterday and at a forum attended by some 600 Myanmar nationals on Saturday.
They adopted red to show solidarity with the victims of the clampdown at home: At least 10 had died and hundreds detained.
The junta's repressive measures lie at the heart of a mass petition that emerged from previous meetings.
Signed by 3,626 Myanmar nationals, it was addressed to the United Nations Security Council and called for 'effective intervention' to foster national reconciliation and political reform.
The petition was handed to Tampines GRC MP Irene Ng, who will forward it to the UN through the Foreign Ministry.
'We want to voice our feelings and push for change but through lawful means,' said a 22-year-old engineering undergraduate who wanted to be known only as Soe, for fear that his family back home may suffer reprisals for his protests.
Beyond dialogues, the activists have also been holding talks at tertiary institutions and prayers for peace at the Burmese Buddhist Temple off Balestier Road.
But they are not optimistic that change will come soon.
Proof is in the runaround the Myanmar generals gave UN envoy Gambari on his visits to Myanmar, and the cancellation of his briefing here.
Asean, which Myanmar joined in 1997, follows a policy of non-intervention in its members' internal affairs.
Despite these obstacles, the activists say they will not slow down efforts to lobby regional leaders to pressure the generals.
A 30-year-old professional, who wanted to be known only as Zeyar, felt the Summit had achieved some good.
'At least the generals have signed the Charter, which obliges them to protect human rights. Whether they will do so is another thing,' he said.
But others like John Moe, 34, who works in an engineering firm and who demonstrated yesterday, felt enough was enough.
'We would like Asean to really listen to the Burmese people and not to listen to the junta... We want Asean to help us get freedom.'
zakirh@sph.com.sg
tracysua@sph.com.sg
UPFRONT
In Singapore, Myanmar activists keep within the law
By Zakir Hussain & Tracy Sua
ABOUT 40 Myanmar nationals were having coffee at the Starbucks cafe at Orchard Parade Hotel, or standing around nearby.
As the clock struck 7pm yesterday, they gathered silently and organised themselves in rows of three.
Dressed in red T-shirts, some of the men and women held up a banner that said: 'Listen to Burma's desires, don't follow junta's order.'
Others held up posters with messages targeting Myanmar's rulers, in town for this week's Asean Summit where a landmark Charter was inked.
'Signing Charter with generals makes Asean laughing stock,' said one. 'Asean has power to make a difference,' read another.
About 20 minutes later, a policeman approached one of them and asked to know the purpose of their gathering.
'We are going to go now,' the reply came.
And just as quickly as they had formed, they dispersed, while some of the 20 officers who had arrived took down their particulars.
Late last night, police said they would hold an investigation into possible offences committed by the protesters.
Yesterday's events were a sharp break from the previous restraint displayed by Myanmar activists, which even drew guarded praise from the police last month.
After a Myanmar protest by opposition politician Chee Soon Juan outside the Istana last month, the police issued a statement saying that 'in contrast to Chee's acts of civil disobedience, Singaporeans and Myanmar nationals in Singapore have organised themselves to express their sentiments and concern for the Myanmar situation in a lawful manner'.
Even the Myanmar demonstrators yesterday previously said they did not wish to break the law.
Business student Myo Myint Maung, 22, said: 'The Burmese community in Singapore has always paid utmost respect to the law of Singapore and even the mandate of Asean.
'Right now we feel that Asean, including the Singapore Government, is ignoring the desire and wishes of the Burmese people. That's why we come here to show our disappointment and discontent about it.'
The source of their dismay? Asean leaders' agreeing to respect Myanmar's wishes to deal with the United Nations directly itself, a decision that came late on Monday night.
Activists in the 30,000-strong Myanmar community here had been hopeful that Asean leaders would take a tough stand against the generals.
Now that UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari's planned briefing to Asean leaders had been cancelled at Yangon's request, demonstrators said they would like to meet the envoy.
The 30,000-strong Myanmar community here had been hardly noticed before September's clampdown on demonstrators by Myanmar's military.
At least once a fortnight since then, hundreds have gathered for updates on conditions back home and to discuss how they could help hasten the process of change in their homeland, which has been under tight military rule for 45 years.
The driving force behind these gatherings is a new group that was outraged by the brutal repression of monks and civilians protesting against military rule and rising prices.
The Overseas Burmese Patriots is a loose band led by about 20 students, professionals and workers here, some of whom demonstrated yesterday as well.
Their mission is best described in their slogan: 'We pursue peace, justice and democracy for Burma'.
It was emblazoned on the back of the signature red T-shirts worn yesterday and at a forum attended by some 600 Myanmar nationals on Saturday.
They adopted red to show solidarity with the victims of the clampdown at home: At least 10 had died and hundreds detained.
The junta's repressive measures lie at the heart of a mass petition that emerged from previous meetings.
Signed by 3,626 Myanmar nationals, it was addressed to the United Nations Security Council and called for 'effective intervention' to foster national reconciliation and political reform.
The petition was handed to Tampines GRC MP Irene Ng, who will forward it to the UN through the Foreign Ministry.
'We want to voice our feelings and push for change but through lawful means,' said a 22-year-old engineering undergraduate who wanted to be known only as Soe, for fear that his family back home may suffer reprisals for his protests.
Beyond dialogues, the activists have also been holding talks at tertiary institutions and prayers for peace at the Burmese Buddhist Temple off Balestier Road.
But they are not optimistic that change will come soon.
Proof is in the runaround the Myanmar generals gave UN envoy Gambari on his visits to Myanmar, and the cancellation of his briefing here.
Asean, which Myanmar joined in 1997, follows a policy of non-intervention in its members' internal affairs.
Despite these obstacles, the activists say they will not slow down efforts to lobby regional leaders to pressure the generals.
A 30-year-old professional, who wanted to be known only as Zeyar, felt the Summit had achieved some good.
'At least the generals have signed the Charter, which obliges them to protect human rights. Whether they will do so is another thing,' he said.
But others like John Moe, 34, who works in an engineering firm and who demonstrated yesterday, felt enough was enough.
'We would like Asean to really listen to the Burmese people and not to listen to the junta... We want Asean to help us get freedom.'
zakirh@sph.com.sg
tracysua@sph.com.sg
India's influence on SEA
INDIA'S INFLUENCE ON SOUTH-EAST ASIA
Lasting impressions of dynasty
By Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, For The Straits Times
HISTORY is repeating itself in South-east Asia, says Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew,* speaking of past, present and future Sino-Indian interaction, but it 'will not be reproduced in exactly the same form' because 'nothing ever is reproduced exactly the same'.
The form it takes will depend to a large extent on the lessons South-east Asia is able to draw from its past. The latter is an issue that will be examined at a conference to be held in Singapore from tomorrow to Friday.**
The region's Indic underpinning is its best-kept secret. In fact, Asean, the 10-nation grouping, can be called the 'Indianised states of South-east Asia' - in the words of French orientalist George Coedes - in modern garb.
Asean's members enshrine the traditions of Temasek, Champa, Funan, Kataaha, Mataram and all the other lost kingdoms of the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires that ancient Indians knew collectively as Suvarnabhumi, Land of Gold.
'When we refer to 1,000-year-old ties which unite us with India, it is not at all a hyperbole,' former king Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia said when dedicating a boulevard in Phnom Penh to India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
'In fact, it was about 2,000 years ago that the first navigators, Indian merchants and Brahmins, brought to our ancestors their gods, their techniques, their organisation. Briefly, India was for us what Greece was to the Latin Occident,' he said.
Language, religion, art, architecture, governance, institutions, temples, folk culture and - above all - a buoyant tradition of maritime trade and merchant guilds also marked the mission goals and influence that more than 50 eminent scholars from a dozen Asian and European countries will discuss at this week's conference. The event is jointly organised by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, the National Library Board, the Institute of South Asian Studies and the Asian Research Institute.
Singapore's first foreign minister, the late Mr S. Rajaratnam, saw Chinese-majority Singapore's retention of its Sanskrit name as an affirmation of British historian A.L. Basham's thesis 'that the whole of South-east Asia received most of its culture from India'.
And an Indian word - bumiputera - encapsulates Malaysia's most cherished political concept.
Making images of the elephant- headed Hindu god Ganesa is a cottage industry in Muslim Java, while Thailand's Buddhist kings claim spiritual descent from India's legendary god-king Rama.
For Minister Mentor Lee, Asean's Indic past resonates in the fun and frolic of Indonesian politics as opposed to the religious austerity of Malaysian election campaigns. Indonesians might also have succumbed to the passions that sweep Kelantan and Terengganu without 'that underpinning of Buddhism and Hinduism that gives them, particularly the Javanese, a certain balance'. He blames Jemaah Islamiah leaders of Arab descent for corrupting some Javanese.
The 'Indian influence came from the west, in Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia Malaysia, Indonesia', he said. 'The Chinese influence came through Vietnam and the city ports, the coastal ports of South-east Asia.' The porcelain cargo of sunken ships from before Admiral Cheng Ho's time bears this out.
But the past was not only a time of peace and plenty. About 10 conference papers will focus on the naval might of India's Chola kings, who interacted extensively with South-east Asia in an age that has left behind some vexed questions with an intriguingly contemporary ring.
Did Rajendra Chola raid Sumatra and Malaya because the Srivijayans obstructed his shipping? Did Mataram attack Srivijaya over the spice trade? Why did Majapahit overthrow Srivijaya? Undoubtedly, commerce was a major cause for the rise and fall of empires for, as the Portuguese Tome Pires who visited Malacca in the 1500s wrote: 'Whoever is lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice.'
Politically, did the Cholas accept Sung suzerainty or was this another Celestial Empire pretension? The suggestion that while South-east Asia saw India as the land of Hinduism and Buddhism and a major trading centre, it also viewed China as exerting political and economic power sounds familiar.
'I see now, with the revival of these two great powers, the same thrust coming in from the East and the West,' said Minister Mentor Lee. Much will depend on how Asean composes its internal differences to manage great-power mingling.
Divisiveness finally overwhelmed its historical predecessor. Suvarnabhumi had too many kings, too little unity in diversity.
This week's conference will send a constructive message beyond the groves of academe if it helps to emphasise the crucial importance of integration as Asean's only means of meaningful survival.
The writer is visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Lasting impressions of dynasty
By Sunanda K. Datta-Ray, For The Straits Times
HISTORY is repeating itself in South-east Asia, says Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew,* speaking of past, present and future Sino-Indian interaction, but it 'will not be reproduced in exactly the same form' because 'nothing ever is reproduced exactly the same'.
The form it takes will depend to a large extent on the lessons South-east Asia is able to draw from its past. The latter is an issue that will be examined at a conference to be held in Singapore from tomorrow to Friday.**
The region's Indic underpinning is its best-kept secret. In fact, Asean, the 10-nation grouping, can be called the 'Indianised states of South-east Asia' - in the words of French orientalist George Coedes - in modern garb.
Asean's members enshrine the traditions of Temasek, Champa, Funan, Kataaha, Mataram and all the other lost kingdoms of the Srivijaya and Majapahit empires that ancient Indians knew collectively as Suvarnabhumi, Land of Gold.
'When we refer to 1,000-year-old ties which unite us with India, it is not at all a hyperbole,' former king Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia said when dedicating a boulevard in Phnom Penh to India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.
'In fact, it was about 2,000 years ago that the first navigators, Indian merchants and Brahmins, brought to our ancestors their gods, their techniques, their organisation. Briefly, India was for us what Greece was to the Latin Occident,' he said.
Language, religion, art, architecture, governance, institutions, temples, folk culture and - above all - a buoyant tradition of maritime trade and merchant guilds also marked the mission goals and influence that more than 50 eminent scholars from a dozen Asian and European countries will discuss at this week's conference. The event is jointly organised by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, the National Library Board, the Institute of South Asian Studies and the Asian Research Institute.
Singapore's first foreign minister, the late Mr S. Rajaratnam, saw Chinese-majority Singapore's retention of its Sanskrit name as an affirmation of British historian A.L. Basham's thesis 'that the whole of South-east Asia received most of its culture from India'.
And an Indian word - bumiputera - encapsulates Malaysia's most cherished political concept.
Making images of the elephant- headed Hindu god Ganesa is a cottage industry in Muslim Java, while Thailand's Buddhist kings claim spiritual descent from India's legendary god-king Rama.
For Minister Mentor Lee, Asean's Indic past resonates in the fun and frolic of Indonesian politics as opposed to the religious austerity of Malaysian election campaigns. Indonesians might also have succumbed to the passions that sweep Kelantan and Terengganu without 'that underpinning of Buddhism and Hinduism that gives them, particularly the Javanese, a certain balance'. He blames Jemaah Islamiah leaders of Arab descent for corrupting some Javanese.
The 'Indian influence came from the west, in Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia Malaysia, Indonesia', he said. 'The Chinese influence came through Vietnam and the city ports, the coastal ports of South-east Asia.' The porcelain cargo of sunken ships from before Admiral Cheng Ho's time bears this out.
But the past was not only a time of peace and plenty. About 10 conference papers will focus on the naval might of India's Chola kings, who interacted extensively with South-east Asia in an age that has left behind some vexed questions with an intriguingly contemporary ring.
Did Rajendra Chola raid Sumatra and Malaya because the Srivijayans obstructed his shipping? Did Mataram attack Srivijaya over the spice trade? Why did Majapahit overthrow Srivijaya? Undoubtedly, commerce was a major cause for the rise and fall of empires for, as the Portuguese Tome Pires who visited Malacca in the 1500s wrote: 'Whoever is lord of Malacca has his hand on the throat of Venice.'
Politically, did the Cholas accept Sung suzerainty or was this another Celestial Empire pretension? The suggestion that while South-east Asia saw India as the land of Hinduism and Buddhism and a major trading centre, it also viewed China as exerting political and economic power sounds familiar.
'I see now, with the revival of these two great powers, the same thrust coming in from the East and the West,' said Minister Mentor Lee. Much will depend on how Asean composes its internal differences to manage great-power mingling.
Divisiveness finally overwhelmed its historical predecessor. Suvarnabhumi had too many kings, too little unity in diversity.
This week's conference will send a constructive message beyond the groves of academe if it helps to emphasise the crucial importance of integration as Asean's only means of meaningful survival.
The writer is visiting senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Taxi fare surcharges
Nov 20, 2007
Taxi fare surcharges: Too much of a good thing?
Experts divided on usefulness; cabbies say they are confusing for passengers
By Maria Almenoar
CABBY Foo Say Hock remembers the trip like it happened yesterday.
He had taken an expatriate passenger from Yio Chu Kang to Tanjong Pagar and when it came time to pay, the passenger was shocked by the $6 he had to pay for various surcharges on top of the metered fare.
He was convinced Mr Foo was cheating him.
The cabby tried to explain, but the irate passenger got out, slammed the door and stormed off without paying.
Mr Foo left his cab and ran after the man who had entered a building. Thanks to a receptionist who helped to explain the surcharges, the man relented and paid up.
The 60-year-old cabby was among several taxi drivers who felt the long list of surcharges add up to a complicated way of charging for taxi rides.
And even though they keep a laminated list to show disbelieving passengers, there is no avoiding the occasional unpleasant incident.
'We are not the ones who are confused about surcharges,' said cabby Foo. 'It is the customers.'
And with Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), a pre-booking surcharge, a public holiday surcharge, a peak period surcharge, an airport surcharge - just to name a few - it can be too much for tourists and newcomers to Singapore to understand.
Added to that is the fact that different taxi companies also have their own variations on timings and amounts of surcharges.
Mr Foo, a driver of eight years, said: 'Maybe a simpler model of payment might be better for both sides.'
The host of surcharges was introduced at various times over the years to address particular situations and to ensure that there would be taxis where and when passengers needed them.
For example, the peak period surcharge encourages cabbies to be out in force during the morning and evening peak hours.
And the Changi Airport surcharge makes it attractive for them to go all the way to the eastern end of Singapore to pick up travellers.
But is it time to change?
Yes, said National University of Singapore (NUS) researcher Han Songguang, who thinks the surcharges may have outlived their usefulness.
'Some of these surcharges just don't work. They are not solving the problems,' said the geography department researcher who specialises in transportation.
He thinks it would be better to scrap the surcharges and raise the starting, or flag-down, rate.
'It may not be the most popular solution...If there are higher flag-down rates, cabbies would earn more from fewer trips and will go where the demand is,' he said.
NUS professor Lee Der- Horng, however, felt otherwise.
The civil engineering don pointed out that removing the surcharges and raising the flagdown rate would not work because, for example, there would be difficulty in getting drivers to 'work the graveyard shift'.
Business professor Terence Fan of the Singapore Management University also did not think that scrapping the surcharges was the answer.
'People will argue as to why they are paying more if they are not travelling during peak hours,' he said.
Lower fares during non-peak hours also help to stimulate business for taxi drivers during these hours, he added.
Member of Parliament Ong Kian Min, who is deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, said he felt the surcharges were too complicated.
He preferred introducing a more 'straightforward' way of charging, instead of having one fare on the meter with surcharges added on only at the end of the trip.
'Having the true fare reflected on the meter would help avoid confusion between taxi drivers and commuters.'
His suggestion: fare bands for different times of day.
So if you take a taxi at peak periods, the flag-down rate and fare would be higher than at an off-peak time, but the meter would show what you are paying.
But Mr Seng Han Thong, MP and adviser to the Taxi Operators' Associations, feels that the surcharges should stay.
In fact, he suggested even more surcharges as the answer to the never-ending debate over demand and supply of cabs.
There could be 'location surcharges' imposed at popular pick-up points like hotels, night clubs, attractions and entertainment areas, he said.
mariaa@sph.com.sg
Taxi fare surcharges: Too much of a good thing?
Experts divided on usefulness; cabbies say they are confusing for passengers
By Maria Almenoar
CABBY Foo Say Hock remembers the trip like it happened yesterday.
He had taken an expatriate passenger from Yio Chu Kang to Tanjong Pagar and when it came time to pay, the passenger was shocked by the $6 he had to pay for various surcharges on top of the metered fare.
He was convinced Mr Foo was cheating him.
The cabby tried to explain, but the irate passenger got out, slammed the door and stormed off without paying.
Mr Foo left his cab and ran after the man who had entered a building. Thanks to a receptionist who helped to explain the surcharges, the man relented and paid up.
The 60-year-old cabby was among several taxi drivers who felt the long list of surcharges add up to a complicated way of charging for taxi rides.
And even though they keep a laminated list to show disbelieving passengers, there is no avoiding the occasional unpleasant incident.
'We are not the ones who are confused about surcharges,' said cabby Foo. 'It is the customers.'
And with Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), a pre-booking surcharge, a public holiday surcharge, a peak period surcharge, an airport surcharge - just to name a few - it can be too much for tourists and newcomers to Singapore to understand.
Added to that is the fact that different taxi companies also have their own variations on timings and amounts of surcharges.
Mr Foo, a driver of eight years, said: 'Maybe a simpler model of payment might be better for both sides.'
The host of surcharges was introduced at various times over the years to address particular situations and to ensure that there would be taxis where and when passengers needed them.
For example, the peak period surcharge encourages cabbies to be out in force during the morning and evening peak hours.
And the Changi Airport surcharge makes it attractive for them to go all the way to the eastern end of Singapore to pick up travellers.
But is it time to change?
Yes, said National University of Singapore (NUS) researcher Han Songguang, who thinks the surcharges may have outlived their usefulness.
'Some of these surcharges just don't work. They are not solving the problems,' said the geography department researcher who specialises in transportation.
He thinks it would be better to scrap the surcharges and raise the starting, or flag-down, rate.
'It may not be the most popular solution...If there are higher flag-down rates, cabbies would earn more from fewer trips and will go where the demand is,' he said.
NUS professor Lee Der- Horng, however, felt otherwise.
The civil engineering don pointed out that removing the surcharges and raising the flagdown rate would not work because, for example, there would be difficulty in getting drivers to 'work the graveyard shift'.
Business professor Terence Fan of the Singapore Management University also did not think that scrapping the surcharges was the answer.
'People will argue as to why they are paying more if they are not travelling during peak hours,' he said.
Lower fares during non-peak hours also help to stimulate business for taxi drivers during these hours, he added.
Member of Parliament Ong Kian Min, who is deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, said he felt the surcharges were too complicated.
He preferred introducing a more 'straightforward' way of charging, instead of having one fare on the meter with surcharges added on only at the end of the trip.
'Having the true fare reflected on the meter would help avoid confusion between taxi drivers and commuters.'
His suggestion: fare bands for different times of day.
So if you take a taxi at peak periods, the flag-down rate and fare would be higher than at an off-peak time, but the meter would show what you are paying.
But Mr Seng Han Thong, MP and adviser to the Taxi Operators' Associations, feels that the surcharges should stay.
In fact, he suggested even more surcharges as the answer to the never-ending debate over demand and supply of cabs.
There could be 'location surcharges' imposed at popular pick-up points like hotels, night clubs, attractions and entertainment areas, he said.
mariaa@sph.com.sg
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