publichouse.sg

Below is the response from the SMRT to a query by publichouse.sg's editor-in-chief, Andrew Loh, on why announcements on trains are in English and Chinese only. Some have observed this apparent anomaly and have questioned if the other official languages, namely Malay and Tamil, would also be used in such announcements.

Here is SMRT's reply:

Dear Mr Loh

We refer to your feedback below.

We wish to explain that we had received public feedback and suggestions to announce station names in Mandarin. Following a review, we decided to adopt passengers’ recommendations as it is a service improvement that would benefit passengers who rely on announcements during their journey.

By Andrew Loh

Can you take the life of someone, anyone, based on dubious arguments alone? It seems you can, from what our ministers said in Parliament recently on the changes to the mandatory death penalty.

The amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act (MDA), which Parliament approved, mean that drug traffickers can now be given the alternative sentence of life imprisonment and a minimum 15 strokes of the cane, instead of the death penalty.

This sentence, however, is subject to two stringent conditions, as DPM Teo Chee Hean explained in Parliament in July:

By Andrew Loh

“Foreign Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam told Yahoo! Singapore in an exclusive interview recently [that] the proposed changes were the result of the government’s continuous review of laws and not from activist campaigning.” (Yahoo Singapore: “Death penalty change came from review, not activists: Shanmugam”)

“But it is the online media, like The Online Citizen, NGOs, like Second Chances and the Singapore Anti-death Penalty Campaign, and lawyer M Ravi who have highlighted and championed the cause.

“From campaigning against the death sentence imposed on 24-year-old Malaysian Yong Vui Kong, to organising forums, to examining the law, they have made some headway.” (PN Balji, Yahoo Singapore: “Online media keeps alive debate on death penalty”)

Those are two very different takes on the issue of the death penalty and the changes which the government will be making to the practice in Singapore.

Try as Mr Shanmugam and the government may, the activists and their campaigns have no doubt played a part – however small – in highlighting the plight of those on death row, especially small-time drug runners such as Yong Vui Kong. The activists have also shown how the mandatory death penalty (MDP) stands on shaky grounds, with certain cases which have cast doubts on its efficacy and even fairness. Their efforts have taken them to the courts and even beyond Singapore.

By Andrew Loh

In the last one year following the general elections, the issue of free speech has been in the news. While it may not have been reported as such, still the question of how far one should go - or be allowed to go - in expressing oneself, especially online, has been the topic of discourse since last May.

What is of particular note is that the issue only apparently became a matter of concern after the general elections. Prior to that, online discourse - which is mostly anti-establishment - was largely ignored by the authorities, save a few scathing and condescending remarks by ministers who chose to dismiss such online sentiments. But the elections showed the potential influence of online social media, as information and news (generated by ordinary citizens and bloggers) flew fast and furious during those 9 days in May, and subsequently during the presidential elections and the Hougang by-election.