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This is Part 2 of publichouse.sg’s interview with Minister Chan Chun Sing. You can view Part 1 here: Chan Chun Sing – The price of politics.

By Ko Siew Huey & Andrew Loh

Chan Chun Sing is an earnest man. When talking about policies, the minister speaks with an almost evangelistic zeal, launching into lengthy explanations about the complex considerations behind government decisions.

The Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), and Minister of State, Ministry for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica), has been thrown into the hot seat overseeing Singapore’s welfare programmes for the needy after the General Election last year.

At a time when income inequality looms as a growing social concern in Singapore, and with calls for the political leadership to do more for the economically disenfranchised, Chan stoically defends the track record of the government from critics who charge that the Government still views “welfare” as a dirty word. The minister, however, is more interested in the substance of the programmes to help the needy than whether Singapore is recognized as a “welfare state.”

This is the second in a special series of stories which publichouse.sg will feature as a lead-up to Christmas on 25 December. It is our hope that as you read these accounts, you too will be inspired to do your part for those in need, however small that effort that may be.

He sat down directly in front of me at the café where we had arranged to meet and when I enquired if he wanted a drink, he simply asked for a glass of water.

Simplicity. That word pretty much sums up the philosophy that Richard Lim has about charity and the work he does at The Breadline Group, a non-profit organization that is now in its 36th year of operations. Its mission? To give financial assistance to the destitute, providing food provisions and cash to supplement whatever public assistance they may be receiving.

By Andrew Loh

On 4 January, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sent a legal letter of demand to writer and activist Alex Au to remove an article which was allegedly defamatory of Mr Lee. Mr Au was also required to publish an apology, which he complied with.

About 3 weeks later, PM Lee reportedly made the following remarks about the Internet, at the Singapore Perspectives 2013 conference held by the Institute of Policy Studies, on 28 January:

“You have views going to extremes and when people respond to their views, they may respond in an extreme way, and when people decide to disapprove of something which was inappropriate, the disapproval can also happen in an extreme way.

"It's in the nature of the medium, the way the interactions work and that's the reason why we think it cannot be completely left by itself."

These set the tone for what transpired subsequently – with various ministers and the Attorney General taking legal action against certain netizens and bloggers the past few months.

The series of clampdown actions has now culminated in the set of new regulations announced by the Media Development Authority (MDA) on Tuesday. Namely, the new rules stipulate that “online news sites that report regularly on issues relating to Singapore and have significant reach among readers here will require an individual licence” from the MDA.

By Irene Lee and Biddy Low

Into its fourth year, SPROUTS is the national competition for choreographic talent that focuses on the originality and creativity of choreographic concepts. This year, the organizers are taking the competition to the next level with an exciting twist: An All Stars edition in which finalists and winners from the past three years will pit their works against each other at a Final Showcase on 15 September 2012.

Jointly organized by the National Arts Council (NAC) and local contemporary dance company, Frontier Danceland, SPROUTS All Stars 2012 showcases five of the exciting talents discovered in the previous three editions of SPROUTS.

Publichouse met two of the contestants, Khairul Shahrin and Christina Chan, who shared their thoughts about the competition and their experience as local artists in Singapore.

“I think Singapore’s art scene is flourishing,” says Khairul. “I think we’re pretty lucky that we have this support from the government”. His sentiment comes from his recent experience of meeting dancers from countries such as Bangladesh, Cambodia and Myanmar who have a high interest in the arts but little support from their governments.

Christina also expressed similar thoughts. “It has gotten a lot better than the past,” she says. Much of her decision to study performing arts abroad was largely because there was little opportunity to do so in the Singapore art scene back in the early 2000s.

However, even with the large expansion of the art industry since, there is still much room for improvement especially when it comes to promoting societal awareness and garnering more interest in the arts.

“Singapore brings in amazing shows all the time, just look at how huge Esplanade is and I’ve been to shows where there’s nobody there. Its really sad,” Christina says.

“I know how receptive Singaporeans are to foreign arts,” Khairul says. “If they see a Singaporean do something and they see a foreigner do something, they will probably think the foreigner looks better”.

True enough, the government has pumped in a lot of investment on proliferating art in general, but more needs to be done in the societal context. As Khairul suggests, “People should look into local arts being pushed out there.”

Tickets for SPROUTS may be purchased through Sistic for $10 or $15.

Check out the videos below for our interviews with Christina and Khairul as well as for snippets of their upcoming performances.

Update 27/09/2012: We understand that Panasonic has increased the basic pay of every worker to $550 a month, $50 more than before. Passports have all been returned and the workers have a translated copy of the contract given to them.

MOM is currently still conducting investigations on the inflated agent fees.

By Stacy Ooi and Biddy Low

At 7pm, having just knocked off from work, the Chinese foreign workers we’d met up to interview were still wearing their Panasonic factory uniforms and were mostly silent and withdrawn, shy when we asked them their names. One of them, Lin Meifang (not her real name) did all the talking – she was the one who’d arranged the meeting. Meifang and her co-workers have been organizing a petition for the past month, collecting signatures from their Panasonic co-workers to protest against exploitative working conditions and ridiculously low pay, amongst other injustices. A chirpy, stubborn woman who still sounded upbeat after knocking off at 12am a few days before this meeting, Meifang has been the driving force behind the mobilisation of her co-workers. ‘These Chinese workers know their rights,’ commented my co-reporter Biddy, ‘and they aren’t afraid to ask for them.’

By Andrew Loh & Biddy Low

Mrs Lai has been operating her small sewing business at Chinatown Complex for 9 years now.  The last one year, however, has seen her rent raised by some 85 per cent. This came about after her last lease period ended and the National Environment Agency (NEA) renewed her lease for another 3 years.

With utilities and town council charges, Mrs Lai would have to fork out some S$850 a month as fixed costs for her business. This is a substantial increase from the S$340 she used to pay as rent.

Her shop, a small unit, is located at Block 335 Smith Street in Chinatown Complex..

By Biddy Low

So I heard from the Chief Editor that Reuben Wang, the Saint Andrew’s Junior College (SAJC) boy who infamously used the F word on our Deputy Prime Minister 3 whole times on his blog, has apologised. Well good for him, it takes a fair amount of courage to admit to and atone for a mistake. In his case, a gesture made more daunting since it was given a generous half page coverage in the Straits Times.

I have read Reuben's offending blog post. It was feverishly shared over and over by friends on my Facebook newsfeed. I would have shared too, if not for his liberal use of expletives. Before you label me a hypocrite, since I'm quite the potty-mouth myself, let me make myself clear: I'm not against swearing per se, but there is a time and place for it.

On a sidenote, I've always resented the power society gives to naughty words, supported no less by an alarmist attitude that paints our society out to be so fragile, that any slightest sign of disobedience and rebellion will inevitably lead us all into a apocalyptic state of anarchy. It is not a balanced prejudice, given that there are so many other things we could be alarmed about, but it is there anyway. If Reuben had thought it through and perhaps intended for the blog post to affect any sort of change, he would have known better than to write in that manner.

By Elaine Ee / Pictures by Biddy Low

The Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), tells publichouse.sg how he views himself as a politician, how he deals with criticism, and what guides him.

It’s tough being a politician in Singapore these days. In some ways, it is even tougher being a People’s Action Party (PAP) politician. Public opinion against the PAP has grown significantly. A 50-year monopoly on power, high ministerial pay and the ruling party’s perceived privilege and elitism—combined with a widening social divide; a more vocal, demanding and questioning populace; and the open platform of the Internet—have alienated this party from many Singaporeans on the ground, as content and comments circulating freely online show. The loss of Aljunied GRC to the opposition Workers’ Party in the last General Election and the WP’s solid victory in the recent Hougang by-election, are perhaps the most prominent signs of unhappiness on the ground with the ruling party.