Singapore Matters

2022-04-22 15:20:29 Our patience and perseverance in the last 2 years have been worth it. Here is yet another major milestone in our fight against COVID-19.

From 26 April 2022

1. No limits on group sizes. No limits on visitors to households.

2. Safe distancing no longer required.

3..Masks are still mandatory indoors, including public transport.

4. While at work, workers may remove their masks if they are not physically interacting with others or in cistomer-facing areas.

5. Check in with SafeEntry and TraceTogether no longer required.
Exception: events with >500 pax and certain nightlife venues.

6. Capacity limits lifted except for nightlife venues with dancing among patrons (75% cap). Open / Comment

2022-04-22 10:05:36 So powerful. Looking forward to Lim Tean to incessantly pressure for prices of fuel and food to go down. LOL Open / Comment

2022-04-22 05:24:25 Finance Minister Lawrence Wong at the G20 Finance Ministers' meeting. Glad that the world will be taking a coordinated approach to fiscal and monetary policies to ensure economic stability. Open / Comment

2022-04-21 12:50:09 A tale of 2 countries. Can Singapore end up like Sri Lanka?

Mr Lee Kuan Yew once described Sri Lanka as a better city than Singapore.

Sri Lanka’s politicians took the populist route. They focused on taxing the wealthy and reduced the number of taxpayers.

According to the recently appointed Finance Minister Ali Sabry, “We have 22 million people in the country and only about 250,000 people paying income tax… You can’t run a country like that.” He is trying to reverse the system but it’s an almost impossible and uphill climb.



https://sgmatters.com/a-tale-of-2-countries-can-singapore-end-up-like-sri-lanka/ Open / Comment

2022-04-20 09:54:40 The government is building an extensive MRT network. Will ridership see a significant increase? No, because most of us are already taking the train and our population is quite fixed.

So why build such an extensive network? For our convenience. By 2030, 8 out of 10 households will live within a 10-minute walk of an MRT station.

Fares are low compared to other developed countries. For 93 cents a senior or person with disabilities can travel from one end of Singapore to the other, and $2+ for adults.

The Government subsidises public transport to the tune of $2 billion every year. With an extensive network in the pipeline, operating costs will go up without the corresponding increase in revenue.

So the challenge, as Mr Baey explained in his Kopitalk, is how to sustain the network.

The resident who asked Mr Baey the question later emailed Mr Baey to let him know that he now had a better understanding and will share the knowledge with his friends. Open / Comment

2022-04-20 09:26:34 By 2030, 8 in 10 households will live within a ten-minute walk of a train station, making getting around Singapore significantly easier. By 2040, the Land Transport Master Plan details a transport system that is convenient, well-connected, and fast as well as a commuter experience that is both gracious and inclusive.

But ridership is not expected to increase proportionately. Why? Because we have a population of 5.6 million and therefore, the size of ridership is quite fixed.

Currently, the Government is already subsidising public transport to the tune of $2 billion a year. As the network expands without a corresponding, significant rise in ridership, the challenge is how to sustain this network.

Our transport fares are one of the lowest - if not lowest - among the best metro systems in the world. Open / Comment

2022-04-19 04:21:30 ​​Soh has been left out of the Asian games and perhaps it is not surprising at all.

Sports is not just about medals. Sports is also about character development, to bring out the best in a person.

There are many paths to glory but vainglory crowds out your love for other people.

A trail runner, Sabrina Little wrote: A friend once told me there are two ways you can enter a room, “Here I am!” or “There you are!” You can make the room about yourself, or you can make it about other people. If you are hungry for attention or are focused on what others say about you, this will impede your ability to see and hear things about anyone else.

The greatest challenge for Soh is not about breaking physical barrier in new records. His biggest challenge is himself and his ego.

The Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) said in a statement that it had "yet to find any satisfactory evidence to demonstrate changed behaviour and conduct by Soh Rui Yong (post-the SEA Games 2022 selection meeting) which would enable him to meet the non-performance related standards required." Open / Comment

2022-04-18 06:57:59 A desalination manned by only 2 or 3 people? Yup!

The most manpower-efficient desalination plant in Singapore.

Singapore's 5th desalination plant on Jurong island was opened by DPM Heng Swee Keat.

Only two to three people are needed to man this highly automated plant.

The plant can produce up to 30 million gallons, or 137,000 cubic metres of water daily, the equivalent of 55 Olympic-size swimming pools, said national water agency PUB. Open / Comment

2022-04-17 09:00:03 Lawrence Wong: political leadership is about an entire team, not one person. Even a giant like Mr Lee Kuan Yew had a team.

“Throughout my life, I have never hankered for post, position or power… So I have never gone out looking for additional work, but somehow the work finds me. Over the last 25 years in public service, my duties and responsibilities have kept on growing. Now I will be taking on what would possibly be the biggest responsibility of my life. I am under no illusions about the demands of the job.

Political leadership is never about one person. It has always been about the entire team. Even a giant like Mr Lee Kuan Yew had a team... So much more the case will be with me, I need each and every one of the 4G team – the Ministers, the SMSs, the MOSs, the Parliament Secretaries and the MPs."

https://sgmatters.com/lawrence-wong-political-leadership-is-about-an-entire-team-not-one-person-even-a-giant-like-mr-lee-kuan-yew-had-a-team/

#4GLeader #LawrenceWong #leadershiprenewal #politicalLeadership Open / Comment

2022-04-16 10:22:40 Work finds Lawrence Wong...

"Now I will be taking on what would possibly be the biggest responsibility of my life. I am under no illusions about the demands of the job. It will get more challenging with greater political contestation and a growing desire for diversity in Parliament.

Knowing full well that we will have to earn the right to leadership, I will continue with the same principles that have guided me all these years, which is to give of my best, to engage and listen, and to learn and improve continually.

As I have repeatedly emphasised, leadership and political leadership is never about one person. It has always been about the entire team. Even a giant like Mr Lee Kuan Yew had a team."

- Lawrence Wong Open / Comment