Singapore Press Freedom

[cdnvic]

Lee Kuan Yew dismisses low press-freedom ranking for Singapore

19 hours ago

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singaporeans are free to read whatever they want, the influential founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew said of his country, which ranks near the bottom on a watchdog's index of press freedom.

Lee was referring to the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) annual ranking for 2006, which placed the city-state at 146 out of 168 nations, and lower than Zimbabwe at 140.

RSF cited "new legal action by the government against foreign media" for Singapore's slipping six places in the rankings.

"There's nothing that you'd want to read which you cannot read in Singapore," said Lee, who holds the influential title of minister mentor in the cabinet of his son.

"You can buy our newspapers and see whether we read like Zimbabwe..." he 1said Sunday night in a keynote address to the International Bar Association annual conference, which has attracted thousands of lawyers and jurists from around the world.

Lee said Singaporeans have wide access to information.

"Everybody's on the Internet. Everybody's got broadband. They've got cable television, access to all the information. You can blog. You can do anything you like," he said in the speech which drew frequent applause.

"But we do not allow certain subjects to be made bones of contention."

Lee said issues of race, language and religion had to be handled sensitively. Singapore is majority ethnic Chinese but with significant Malay and Indian minorities.

"A multi-racial, multi-religious society is always prone to conflicts," Lee said.

The city-state has bitter memories of past racial incidents in its early years and clamps down hard on anyone inciting communal tensions.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hpeTVV...l_FLUHZFQRYJGRA

[cdnvic]

Reporters Without Borders 2006 press freedom index with most free countries at the top, and worst offenders at the bottom.

103 Indonesia 26,00

108 Cambodia 27,25

122 Thailand 33,50

143 Philippines 51,00

146 Singapore 51,50

155 Vietnam 67,25

156 Laos 67,50

164 Burma 94,75

http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639

[technocracy]

Reporters Without Borders 2006 press freedom index with most free countries at the top, and worst offenders at the bottom.

103 Indonesia 26,00

108 Cambodia 27,25

122 Thailand 33,50

143 Philippines 51,00

146 Singapore 51,50

155 Vietnam 67,25

156 Laos 67,50

164 Burma 94,75

http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639

Lao that high eh!

But then again Lao does have completely unrestricted Internet access - that said if they had the knowledge to restrict I am sure the would! .

[my friend I]

The free newspaper is popular

[Mid]

Singaporeans are free to read whatever they want,

cunning old so and so .......................

of course they are , pity about the writing bit ..........................

[cdnvic]

Question is, does a tiny city-state like Singapore need controls like this to maintain itself?

[mrtoad]

Question is, does a tiny city-state like Singapore need controls like this to maintain itself?

More like that it is easier to control a small island state like Singapore because of it's small size and relative sucess over the years. The Lee family has continued to tighten it's grip on the Nation and shows little desire to encourage real freedom of speach. Whilst S'pore remains sucessful, then they will continue to have little opposition to how they run the nation, and as some of those in oposition have found to their cost, it's not too wise to push for too much as it can cost you your liberty and also a lot of money.

[Mid]

not to mention the lack of investigative journalism makes keeping this quite , easy .....................................

Asia’s ‘Financial Parking Lot’

By William Boot/Singapore

September 1, 2007

irrawaddy.org

[Naam]

Singapore's success speaks for itself. envy (masceraded by bla-bla-bla) doesn't change reality. Lee Kuan Yew is an old man now. being the architect of Singapore's success entitles him to utter some bullsh*t now and then.

[mrtoad]

Singapore's success speaks for itself. envy (masceraded by bla-bla-bla) doesn't change reality. Lee Kuan Yew is an old man now. being the architect of Singapore's success entitles him to utter some bullsh*t now and then.

The facts and figures speak for themselves, but there is quite a large Singaporean underclass that goes largely unnoticed.

[Mid]

success built on the backs of 3rd world labourers who live in shipping containers and are paid $10 / Sing @ day ,

certainly speaks for it's self .

[Naam]

success built on the backs of 3rd world labourers who live in shipping containers and are paid $10 / Sing @ day ,

certainly speaks for it's self .

be fair Mid. the success of Singapore starting in 1959 had for several decades nothing to do with third world labourers. all three ethnic groups (Chinese, Malays and mostly Tamils) worked their @sses off without additional imported labour to create the foundations of nowadays Singapore. presently a bunch of poor farangs living in Thailand would like to enjoy the benefits of SGs imported labour.

[Naam]

$10 / Sing @ day

from all indications i have from friends living in Singapore this is not true. e.g. a completely unskilled indonesian woman working as a maid makes around 900 sing-dollars plus free lodging and food. a filipina nanny with rudimentary english earns 1,200 plus see above.

[Mid]

perhaps LKY should be fair ,

it's he who is on record as stating all men are NOT equal ,

not me .

and whilst your description of the humble beginnings are correct , it was far from a big happy party .

it's my understanding that the original draconian laws were introduced to break the Chinese Triads .

seems as if they discovered how to control the population early .

Edited to add

ps , in reply to your second post neither of those live in shipping containers either ............................

[singa-traz]

$10 / Sing @ day

from all indications i have from friends living in Singapore this is not true. e.g. a completely unskilled indonesian woman working as a maid makes around 900 sing-dollars plus free lodging and food. a filipina nanny with rudimentary english earns 1,200 plus see above.

sure ... divide those figure by at least two and you would be closer to the real cost.

For this price, the Chinese start to work.

[johnh101]

success built on the backs of 3rd world labourers who live in shipping containers and are paid $10 / Sing @ day ,

certainly speaks for it's self .

So they have a higher standard of living than their cousins in Dubai, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi.......................

But actually there is a place in the NW of Singapore where there are guys living in a two storey block complately fabricated from 40' shipping containers, I just wish I had a photo to prove it.

[Naam]

$10 / Sing @ day

from all indications i have from friends living in Singapore this is not true. e.g. a completely unskilled indonesian woman working as a maid makes around 900 sing-dollars plus free lodging and food. a filipina nanny with rudimentary english earns 1,200 plus see above.

sure ... divide those figure by at least two and you would be closer to the real cost.

For this price, the Chinese start to work.

does that mean my friends are suckers or just benevolent chaps?

[Naam]

success built on the backs of 3rd world labourers who live in shipping containers and are paid $10 / Sing @ day, certainly speaks for it's self .

So they have a higher standard of living than their cousins in Dubai, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Kuwait, Saudi.......................

But actually there is a place in the NW of Singapore where there are guys living in a two storey block complately fabricated from 40' shipping containers, I just wish I had a photo to prove it.

they must have "stoled" my idea which i implemented thirty years ago in Saudi Arabia. 40' containers were sold at Jeddah port for a token fee of 50 saudi riyals. we rented land with water and electric supply, cut four holes in the containers, fitted them with fixed glass and another hole for a 24,000 btu/h aircon with the fresh air lid removed. one of my british chaps designed separate toilet and shower containers.

people were happier living in these containers than those in the sh*tholes which were available otherwise. don't know though whether the present SIN-containers would meet our (then) basic requirements.

[Prakanong]

$10 / Sing @ day

from all indications i have from friends living in Singapore this is not true. e.g. a completely unskilled indonesian woman working as a maid makes around 900 sing-dollars plus free lodging and food. a filipina nanny with rudimentary english earns 1,200 plus see above.

I did not think they earned that much to be honest - the maids I mean.

I will have to ask but I bet its not that much - I know some girls I work with who have maids/nannies and I bet they do not get that much.

I always thought a filipino maid got about 400SGD

Shop staff only get about 1200 and these are local Chinese girls.

[Prakanong]

$10 / Sing @ day

from all indications i have from friends living in Singapore this is not true. e.g. a completely unskilled indonesian woman working as a maid makes around 900 sing-dollars plus free lodging and food. a filipina nanny with rudimentary english earns 1,200 plus see above.

sure ... divide those figure by at least two and you would be closer to the real cost.

For this price, the Chinese start to work.

I think you are way closer to how much maids get!

I would have divided by 3

[singa-traz]

$10 / Sing @ day

from all indications i have from friends living in Singapore this is not true. e.g. a completely unskilled indonesian woman working as a maid makes around 900 sing-dollars plus free lodging and food. a filipina nanny with rudimentary english earns 1,200 plus see above.

sure ... divide those figure by at least two and you would be closer to the real cost.

For this price, the Chinese start to work.

I think you are way closer to how much maids get!

I would have divided by 3

My kids used to learn Tagalog-English.

Their nanny was Filipino, spoke very good English, and we could trust her 100% on how to take care of our kids.

So, I kind of know how much they are paid.

And you are right ... divide by 3 and you are closer.

[Naam]

$10 / Sing @ day

from all indications i have from friends living in Singapore this is not true. e.g. a completely unskilled indonesian woman working as a maid makes around 900 sing-dollars plus free lodging and food. a filipina nanny with rudimentary english earns 1,200 plus see above.

sure ... divide those figure by at least two and you would be closer to the real cost.

For this price, the Chinese start to work.

does that mean my friends are suckers or just benevolent chaps?

i made a couple of phone calls and the secret was revealed. the salaries that my friends mentioned are those which their employers (swiss banks in SIN) pay to agencies which hire out domestic staff. the monthly amount includes overtime up to certain hours (didn't ask how many), health insurance and flights to the home country every two years and in case of sickness the agency provides a replacement within 48 hours.

[Mid]

i made a couple of phone calls and the secret was revealed. the salaries that my friends mentioned are those which their employers (swiss banks in SIN) pay to agencies which hire out domestic staff.

thanxs for the follow up ,

now of course the question is how much of that renumeration does the one doing the work receive ?

[Naam]

i made a couple of phone calls and the secret was revealed. the salaries that my friends mentioned are those which their employers (swiss banks in SIN) pay to agencies which hire out domestic staff.

now of course the question is how much of that renumeration does the one doing the work receive ?

less than 50%

[Prakanong]

$10 / Sing @ day

from all indications i have from friends living in Singapore this is not true. e.g. a completely unskilled indonesian woman working as a maid makes around 900 sing-dollars plus free lodging and food. a filipina nanny with rudimentary english earns 1,200 plus see above.

sure ... divide those figure by at least two and you would be closer to the real cost.

For this price, the Chinese start to work.

does that mean my friends are suckers or just benevolent chaps?

i made a couple of phone calls and the secret was revealed. the salaries that my friends mentioned are those which their employers (swiss banks in SIN) pay to agencies which hire out domestic staff. the monthly amount includes overtime up to certain hours (didn't ask how many), health insurance and flights to the home country every two years and in case of sickness the agency provides a replacement within 48 hours.

That sounds better - I just asked at work how much others pay and they talk of 350-400 a month plus about the same in govt levy

[LadyinRed]

Citing racial tensions as the main point of controlling the (free) press is way overrated and so lame.

The only tension Singaporeans have now is the rising costs of living.