Maverick sons

The sons of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong are mavericks.

Writers and bloggers have had field day dissecting the chain of events following Li Hongyi's long letter of complaint against a fellow officer in the Singapore Armed Forces for being absent without leave or AWOL on two occasions. He had sent the letter to the Defence Minister, senior governments officials and broadcast the letter to many fellow servicemen who were not involved in the case.

To cut the long story short, Lee's son (pix from Simple is the Reason of My Heart) earned a reprimand for not following the proper channel in lodging his complaint. The other officer was also court martialed and reprimanded.

Public reaction has been mixed. Many praised him for blowing the whistle, but some lambasted him for his brash act.

Another son of Hsien Loong and second wife Ho Ching of Temasek Holdings also came into the limelight during the last elections in 2006. Hsien Loong disclosed that his youngest son Haoyi had attended the rally of the Opposition during the hustings.

The young sons of Hsien Loong appear to be quite independent minded. They are willing to speak up, quite different from many Singaporeans who simply toe the official line. Maybe, they can afford to be different due to their privileged background. To be sure, they are not above the law as shown in the Hongyi case.

There's no doubt that they will go far in the Singapore society, due to their ability and pedigree. But will the third generation of Lees be able to follow the footstep of their PM father and their grandfather -- former PM Lee Kuan Yew?

The jury is still out.

Distressed Johor straits

New Straits Times has an interesting article and pix today about the distressed Straits of Johor separating Malaysia and Singapore.

The picture shows a rare and recent phenomenon of shoals of fish leaping into the air due to unknown reasons.

The article hazarded a guess that the phenomenon could be due to the increase in the pollution levels in the straits, which is noted for its high levels of lead, mercury and e-coli bacteria.

The newspaper cited Malaysian Nature Society Johor branch bio-diversity researcher Vincent Chow as saying that it is possible that the water is warming up as a direct result of global warming, causing marine parasites to multiply faster than normal and attack the fish.

"When these parasites attach themselves to the body of the fish, the discomfort causes them to dart about in an effort to dislodge the parasite," Chow said.

Well, it doesn't come as a total surprise that marine life in the straits is distressed. The article didn't give the reason for the high pollution levels in the straits.

As mentioned in a previous post, the straits of Johor is extremely dirty due to two reasons -- continued discharge of waste by Johor rivers into the straits, and the retarded flow of water due to the land-based causeway linking Malaysia and Singapore.

Malaysia and Johor must step up efforts to clean up the rivers and relocate industries and squatters along the dirty rivers.

An overhead bridge to replace the causeway will definitely help water circulate more freely in the straits and flush the toxic water. An overhead bridge project was first mooted in 1996 by Malaysia but sadly, the Malaysian and Singapore governments have not been able to agree to proceed with the project.

Concerted efforts are needed to clean up the dirty straits and help the distressed fish and marine life breathe a little easier.

Updated: Can check in, cannot check out

Another sad case of religion has come to light in Malaysia. The latest heart-wrenching story is about a Muslim-born woman who has not been allowed to leave the religion despite her stated wish to do so following her marriage to a Hindu man.

She told a harrowing tale of detention in an Islamic rehabilitation centre that sounded more like a jail sentence as it included solitary confinement and forced religious 'counseling'.

"Although I served 180 days, I still cannot convert out of Islam," said 29-year-old Revathi Masoosai (NST pix), who has vowed to remain a Hindu. "I wasted my time."

Under Malaysian laws, Muslims cannot marry non-Muslims unless they convert to Islam. This has become a social norm in Malaysia although it doesn't sound entirely fair.

But is it reasonable to make it near impossible for Muslims who wish to check out of the religion? Under the laws, a Muslim will be considered a criminal should he leave the religion although freedom of religions is enshrined in the Constitution.

This is not the first time the Malaysian authorities have made it near impossible for Muslims who wish to convert to other religions. One will never forget the Lina Joy case. There are other pending cases, including that of a Chinese man who grew up as a Muslim due to a baby mix-up in a hospital nearly three decades ago. He's now trying to change his religious status but don't hold your breath.

It's therefore not an understatement to say that Malaysia enjoys limited religious freedom. Sigh.

PS: The Islamic moral guardian has also become more zealous in telling Muslims what they can or cannot wear. Sigh

Update (11 July 2007): Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has vowed to look into politically sensitive cases of Muslims seeking to renounce Islam in favor of other religions. "We have to be ready to listen and to solve the problems," he told reporters. "This is not about something that cannot be done. For those who don't want to be Muslims anymore, what can you do?"

It remains to be seen whether the Malaysian premier can do anything to redress the problem and help ensure real freedom of religion in the country. This is because Islamic religious issues come under the jurisdiction of state governments, which generally have a different view from the federal government on the political hot potato.

Did Aussie university do homework?

The recent decision by the University of New South Wales Asia (UNSW Asia) to close its Singapore operations and half-built campus has definitely taken a toll on the Republic's aspiration to be an education hub.

There's been plenty of public debate and soul searching on what went wrong. The latest salvo came from Singapore's Economic Development Board, which blasted UNSW's chief Fred Hilmer's claim that he had a 'workable plan' for the Asian campus which was rejected by the board.

There's merit in EDB's argument. It's just unimaginable that EDB would simply pull the life line from the university project without valid reasons.

"By this you sought to lay the blame for the closure of the Singapore campus of UNSW on the EDB, rather than acknowledge that it was a business decision taken by UNSW after concluding that you would not be able to meet the deliverables expected under the support package from the EDB,' said EDB in its letter," the EDB letter said.

The EDB added it had 'always been keen' for UNSW's presence in Singapore as a 'comprehensive university on a permanent campus'.

It's only fair to demand certain deliverables in order to grant the support package to UNSW as taxpayer's money is involved.

It's also unfathomable that the university will call it a day so soon -- even before its campus is ready. Wasn't there a back-up plan? Isn't the university aware of the plethora of financing instruments available in the market?

Did UNSW bail out too soon? In fact, EDB was earlier cited as saying that UNSW became concerned when student intake in March 2007 turned out to be 150 instead of the target 300 in UNSW's business plan.

It's amazing that the university made the closure decision due partly to the relatively small student shortfall, which could have been met with an aggressive recruiting campaign.

Did the university do proper homework for the project, taking into account the worst case scenario? Or did it expect overnight success?

Whatever the real excuse, I definitely won't enroll myself for the university's business degree or its MBA.

Kicking the habit, finally,

Dad has finally quit smoking, after over two decades of intense smoking, due to health concerns. He will save plenty of money, which can be used to buy cookies and other munchies for me. I’m so happy that he’s no longer addicted to the poison churned out by the big tobacco companies.

But dad is not entirely happy with the big tobacco companies in Singapore. They have generally raised cigarette prices by 40 cents or 3.6 per cent to S$11.60, although the government has increased the Goods and Services Tax by only 2 percentage points to 7 per cent. Yet, nobody has accused the tobacco companies of profiteering.

It’s not easy to wean one from cigarettes even though Singapore has one of the most expensive cigarettes in the world. Perhaps, the government should use this opportunity to ban cigarettes in Singapore completely following the higher-than-expected price hike.

The steep rise in cigarette price in Singapore has also unwittingly spawned a huge underground industry – smuggling by Singaporeans and foreigners.

According to The Straits Times today, the quantity of duty-unpaid cigarettes seized in the first five months this year has surpassed that for the whole of last year. Between January and May, the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority seized a record 1.17 million packs of these cigarettes, compared to the 1.12 million packs confiscated through last year.

A pack of cigarettes now cost Singapore S$11.60 or a staggering RM25, which is more than three times the price tag of RM8 after the 60 sen increase in Malaysia. ST reckoned that black-market cigarettes in Johor Baru cost just RM$4 (S$1.80) a pack, against S$5 that illegal touts here charge.

Well, it’s all academic to dad now who is determined to stop smoking. Mom and I hope dad will succeed in kicking the disgusting habit. We will burn down the tobacco companies should he fail to stop consuming their drug. Woof woof :-)