Wet Calamari said:

Since its first run last year, AFA appears to have mushroomed into an even bigger event this year if we go by the marketing hype; quite a feat for what is supposed to already be the largest-scaled anime event in Singapore. Just like many other similar events, it was held at Suntec Convention Center Halls 403/404 over this weekend.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Hey, it's a big anime event."

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The Restaurant said:

New $100 paper banknotes have been spotted in Singapore a few days ago, carrying the signature of Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Upon obtaining the note, the first thing which I noticed was the difference in intensity of colour on the new $100 note, in particular the dark brown colour.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Something which many is unaware of"

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Seah Chiang Nee said:

Years later, if writers looked back at the current severe downturn to ask what lasting impact the global crisis had on this society, one answer would be the erosion of the middle class...

The theory, known as the M-shaped society, was enunciated by Japanese strategist Kenichi Ohmae. He observed that in Japan’s “M-shape” class distribution, very few middle-class people may climb up the ladder into the upper class, while the others gradually sank to the lower classes.

These people suffered a deterioration in living standards, faced the threat of unemployment, or their average salary was dropping...

Kenichi said all this might take place while the economy enjoyed remarkable growth and overall wages rose. However, the wealth increase may concentrate in the pockets of the very few rich people in society.

The masses cannot benefit from the growth, and their living standard goes into decline. For many middle-class Singaporeans, these sound uncomfortably like home. ...

Singapore has the second-highest income gap with a Gini score of 42.5 among developed economies after Hong Kong

Recommended by at82: "New millionaires will emerge from the ashes, but a bit of the middle class will disappear."

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anonymouse 6 said:

In an apparent effort to wipe out the accounts of gold farmers, asiasoft decides to block anyone with large recent transactions..

apparently their criteria of large was so low, it resulted in thousands of blocked players

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "topical, players have no rights in singapore, whether legal or not. we are completely at the descretion of tyrants and fools"

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Cheng Ding An said:

If you knew Dollah Kassim, maybe you would know what a gracious, soft spoken, big hearted man he was.

If you knew Dollah Kassim, maybe you would have known an entire generation of legendary

footballers who fought and won something simply astounding, but are now lost and forgotten

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "A moving tribute to Singapore football legend, Dollah Kassim, written by the Kallang Roar movie director, Cheng Ding An who had the honour to work with him for his movie."

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Seah Chiang Nee said:

AN ELECTRONICS firm that advertised last week for a “preferably non-Singaporean” engineer has added fuel to a worsening controversy in this migrant city.

It particularly stipulated that “permanent residents are welcome” to apply for this “mid-career job (salary negotiable)”.

A copy of the advertisement found its way onto the web.

Applicants should have a diploma or a relevant trade certificate, with 3-5 years’ work experience, and “preferably non-Singaporean (PR welcome),” it added. ...

The foreigners, hungrier and without family responsibility here, generally work longer hours for less pay – something that married Singaporeans with a home mortgage to pay cannot possibly match.

A small industry has risen to recruit them in large numbers – as indicated by a recruitment agency, with this advertisement: “Do you find it difficult and expensive to hire local staff? Why not consider hiring foreign talents?”

Claiming it was licensed by the Manpower Ministry, the agency said that it had recruited thousands of workers from China, India, Vietnam and Malaysia for Singapore firms in the past five years.

Recommended by at82: "Now we know where we stand. Singaporeans are now below foreigners."

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Singapore Fountain Pen said:

The man seen in posters and in the run's official site took part in the race too. His name is Hanniel Choong, a heroin user in a previous life, whose self-imposed mission was to break his personal best of 48 minutes as he celebrates his 48th birthday. I was among those who cheered while he got on stage during the awarding ceremony as the announcers exclaimed "mission accomplished!"

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "It talks about the inaugural Yellow Ribbon Prison Run"

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Forbes has released a list of 40 of Singapore richest person. Ng Teng Fong is at no 1 with $8 billion.

The total wealth of Singapore's 40 richest has jumped 20%.

Singapore is emerging from its deepest recession since the island became an independent nation in 1965. Though the economy may shrink up to 6% this year, there are signs that the worst is over. GDP expanded in the second quarter for the first time in a year. Exports and manufacturing were up in July, and property prices and sales are picking up. The country's main stock index has jumped almost 90% since its March low.

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Vr-Zone said:

Comex 2009 is now officially open until this Sunday. With booths and mega bargains extending from first floor to the sixth in the convention halls (yes, every floor has something going on).

Do you have what it takes to join the rest of the crowd in finding your best bargain for the gadgets and hardware?

Recommended by oOgA: "with every IT fair, it just gets bigger. lots of bargains to check out. this post will be updated to reflect any recent changes, if any"

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Tong Hsien Hui said:

I don’t expect these media giants in Singapore to change their philosophies anytime soon. They lack the hunger and urgency brought about by a highly competitive environment, and to a certain extent, the luddites in senior management probably wouldn’t be comfortable in such a fast paced media environment.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Why Singapore's newspapers aren't full tilt into new media"

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Lucky Tan said:

I'm grateful to the thousands of Singaporeans who work as cleaners to keep Singapore clean, the drivers, the clerks, etc, who are the backbone of our economy. That is why I strongly believe they deserve a decent wage for doing a full time job - they cannot be left struggling as the cost of living goes up and their wages go down. We cannot keep importing foreign labor to depress their pay so that businesses can redirect their costs towards paying for higher rent, higher utilities, higher fees for govt services etc. It is because young bloggers are appreciative of this segment of our population (now living in poverty and struggling to make ends meet) that is why we write negatively about govt policies such as the FT policy that will hurt this group of Singaporeans further.

So who is it that is ungrateful and unappreciative of Singaporeans? These men have also put their bets on progress being possible only if they open the floodgates to foreigners - creating an unlevel playing field for their fellow Singaporeans and forgetting the sacrifices Singaporeans have made to serve the country. These men have created an inequitable system with a huge income gap that puts the many Singaporean families at risk. At the same time, they have paid themselves the highest salaries in the world for their profession. Why should we show them gratitude when they have shown none for ordinary Singaporeans?

Recommended by at82: "Who is grateful and who is not?"

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Tom Davenport said:

Singapore is tiny compared to the United States..., but that doesn't mean it can't be a model. Barack Obama keeps saying that we need to buckle down and work hard to build an economy based on real production, not hollow financial chicanery. We need a little more social order, and a little less individualism. Singapore has already pulled off both objectives, and continues to provide a good example of good judgment for the United States and the rest of the world.

Recommended by vantan: "This Harvard Business blogger has a glowing impression of Singapore, but with some caveats. It's also interesting to read the comments that follow as it shows how foreigners perceive us - e.g. Singaporeans have first rate infrastructure but the 'mindset of a developing country'. What are your thoughts on this?"

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Singapore Part Time Jobs documented how not being able to get a part time job led to creating a job portal especially for part-time, contract or temporary jobs in Singapore

Let’s face it, the economy has been bad and projects have been scarce. However, the challenge is not to get worried and overwhelmed. I caught myself whining away when I couldn’t get a part-time job but I really got tired of my rants and complaints. Then I had a Eureka moment and thought “Instead of looking for a part-time job, why don’t I use my skills to create an easy-to-use part time job site for Singaporeans” :)

The goal is to become Singapore’s top part time job site. A lofty one but I know its totally achievable.

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Wet Calamari said:

There were a number of artists from Malaysia and Indonesia, and Australia too, and some of them commented that it was awfully quiet; much less traffic then they expected. They seemed disappointed… but I did tell them that today being Friday was still a workday and if we went by last year’s experience, there won’t even be room to breathe tomorrow.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "A taster of what to expect."

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Mr Wang Says So said:

I proceeded to check out the available graduate scholarships at the NUS Law Faculty. Alas, I saw that in fact, almost all the scholarships were reserved for non-Singaporeans.

That's still the way it is today. See the current list of graduate scholarships here:

(1) Research Scholarship
(2) Graduate Scholarship for ASEAN Nationals (NUS GSA)
(3) Faculty Graduate Scholarship (FGS)
(4) Scholarship for Young Asian Academics
(5) Microsoft Scholarship

The 1st scholarship is open to both Singaporean and foreign applicants.
The 2nd scholarship is open to students from all ASEAN countries, except Singaporeans.
The 3rd scholarship is open to students from anywhere in the world, except Singaporeans.
The 4th scholarship is open to all Asian students, except Singaporeans.
The 5th scholarship is open to students from anywhere in the world, except Singaporeans.

Is it strange that so many Singaporeans feel marginalised in their own country? No, it is not strange at all. It is clear that in our country today, citizenship often turns out to be a liability.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "In Singapore, citizens are automatically disqualified from most scholarships, just because they are citizens. Amazing."

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Mingjie Cai said:

Probably the only taxi driver in this world with a PhD from Stanford and a proven track record of scientific accomplishments, I have been forced out of my research job at the height of my scientific career, and unable to find another one, for reasons I can only describe as something "uniquely Singapore". As a result, I am driving taxi to make a living and writing these real life stories just to make the dull job a little more interesting. I hope that these stories are interesting to you too.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Stories and musings from an Stanford PhD and IMCB researcher turned taxi driver."

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Angry AngMo said:

Obviously I am not Singaporean, which means I am not able to share heartwarming and patriotic moments with you, like singing the National anthem with 25.000 other people, or feeling overwhelming joy about the free “Funpacks”.

Instead I can show you how a foreigner sees and feels about these 2 hours filled with interesting but weird elements, that got me and my buddy asking more then once “Why the hell would you do that!?”

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Angry foreigner criticizes the NDP... at his peril."

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Loh and Behold said:

Are you proud to be Singaporean?

Why?

Shouldn’t you just be proud of actual accomplishments?

Is being Singaporean a skill?

I can never understand it when people say “I’m proud to be Singaporean.”

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Gets to the heart of the pros and cons of patriotism."

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Slavoj Žižek said:

If there is one person to whom monuments will be built a hundred years from now, Peter Sloterdijk once remarked, it is Lee Kuan Yew, the Singaporean leader who thought up and put into practice a ‘capitalism with Asian values’. The virus of authoritarian capitalism is slowly but surely spreading around the globe. Deng Xiaoping praised Singapore as the model that all of China should follow.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "What is the link between Berlusconi, Ahmadinejad, Deng Xiaoping and Lee Kuan Yew?"

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Jeffrey said:

With my tainted glasses, i view everything and everyone in the military as i think they are. NS is a waste of time. These commanders are fierce and have no life. Please. I am smarter than you are, i boast of perfect scores at my A-levels. You are a platoon sergeant who is just over me in rank but in the society outside these fences, you are nothing compared to me, a potential high-achiever. I am biased. I admit it. I like my tainted glasses. They help me see clearer.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "A Melbourn-based Singaporean medical student reflects on our attitude towards National Service."

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