Tuesday 19 February 2013
Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail link planned
19 February 2013
Last updated at 03:26 ET
Singapore and Malaysia have announced plans for a high-speed rail link, with a target completion date of 2020.
The link would reduce travel time between Singapore and the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, to 90 minutes.
Leaders of the two nations said that the move would boost business ties and increase trade.
No cost was given for the project, to be built by private companies. A joint committee would start looking at the details, a joint statement said.
The move came as Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak met in Singapore for talks.
The rail link was a “strategic development in bilateral relations that will dramatically improve” connectivity, the joint statement said.
“Ultimately, this project will give both countries greater stakes in each other’s prosperity and success.”
Trains currently take about six hours to make the 300km (190 miles) journey between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. By road, the journey takes about four hours.
Malaysia-Singapore high-speed rail link planned
Whither PAP, whither the elite, whither Singapore?
COMMENT
Former foreign minister George Yeo is a man of many words. Many remember him for his banyan tree speech which, in a round-about way, was telling leaders to let light shine through their over-protective shoulders and let those under them blossom.
Last month, he chose just two words and a question mark in a Facebook post to make his point.
Striking in its brevity, refreshing in its clarity Yeo’s post asked pointedly: Whither Singapore?
That was just one day after the ruling party had suffered an embarrassing defeat in a by-election that exposed a 11 percentage point shift against it.
The biggest and most unfortunate victim of the 2011 General Election got more than 800 reacting on his Facebook and many more thinking what was unthinkable just two years ago.
Is the People’s Action Party hurtling down a slippery slope to a bigger humiliation at the next general election in 2016? Will this lead to a two-party political system, even an Opposition sweeping into power, further down the road?
The by-election backlash surprised many, even the opposition Workers’ Party, which fielded a girl next door type candidate opposite PAP’s colorectal surgeon.
Singaporeans outside Punggol East, where the by-election was fought, were taken aback that the lack of everyday needs like childcare centres, coffeeshops and transport facilities had boiled over during the campaigning.
What was Mr Michael Palmer, the PAP legislator who triggered the by-election because of his extra-marital affair, doing since the general election of 2011 when PAP’s vote share dipped to a post-independent low of 60.1 per cent and three ministers, including Yeo, were voted out.
Even the announcements of big-ticket items like multi-billion dollar transport infrastructure projects and baby bonuses couldn’t sway the voters in Punnggol East. And the PM’s last-minute entry at the final election rally had no impact on Decision Day.
Insiders say a press conference intended as a mop-up move after that speech was cancelled because grassroots feedback showed that the PM had swayed many voters.
How misplaced that feedback was. Not only did the PAP lose the constituency but polled only 43.7 percent of the votes against WP’s 54.5.
Just two weeks after the by-election thrashing, the government submitted a White Paper on Population for debate in Parliament. That sparked another round of anti-government bashing with many saying an increase of 1.6 million people by 2030 taking the total population to 6.9 million, nearly half of them foreigners, will make the already crowded city unliveable.
Will the Singaporean become a stranger in his own land, some asked.
The establishment was forced to clarify that the 6.9 million figure was not a target, only a projection for planning purposes. But the damage was already done.
With the government in a state of siege and the public in a foul mood, it was left to an insider, like PAP MP Inderjit Singh, to think aloud about the eroding trust in government.
A political commentator called on Singaporeans to get over the emotional hump of angst, but she spoke too soon. For, it seemed, there were other humps to cross. Some intellectuals and economists started digging into the 42-page report and questioning the data used and the conclusions reached.
One took aim at the brains behind the report, the elite administrative service, accusing it of not displaying academic rigour in researching the paper. Another said the red flag figure of 6.9 million was “bogus”.
For a report that will affect the present and future generations, there was no attempt to discuss it with the public. In the end a slightly-amended version was passed after a five-day debate in a PAP-dominated Parliament.
Inderjit Singh, who was there when PM wrapped up the debate, absented himself when it was time to vote.
Rarer still was to see thousands of people coming out on to Singapore’s version of the Speaker’s Corner on Saturday to show their displeasure.
Even Singapore’s harshest critics have only good words for its able and competent civil service and political leadership.
But, the by-election blow-out and the White Paper wash-out have left many, not just Yeo, wondering where this country is headed.
P N Balji has more than 35 years experience as a journalist. He is now a media consultant.
Whither PAP, whither the elite, whither Singapore?
Monday 18 February 2013
Hackers target Yahoo users in Singapore
Yahoo users in Singapore have been warned about spam e-mail that could leave them vulnerable to attacks by hackers.
A government information watchdog has advised them not to click on the links in these messages – even those that are supposedly sent by friends.
The warning was issued last Friday in a bulletin on the website of the Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team (SingCert).
It said that there have been reports of spam e-mail from Yahoo accounts containing links to sites selling “work-from-home” schemes and packages.
Background story
SingTel warns of phishing scam
LOCAL telco SingTel last night warned all customers not to respond to a phishing scam that has been doing the rounds involving its Internet service arm SingNet.
Phishing is an attempt by hackers to con users into revealing their passwords and credit card details through a fraudulent e-mail message.
In a Facebook posting at about 5pm after receiving a query from The Straits Times, SingTel said: “Some customers may have received e-mail messages asking them to re-activate their accounts because of some ‘technical issues on our system’.”
It clarified that the e-mails have not been sent by the company or SingNet and advised customers to ignore them.
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Hackers target Yahoo users in Singapore
Singapore police tell webcam users: Keep your clothes on; it"s a scam
Police in Singapore have warned men to be more careful about whom they talk to over webcams, reporting an alarming increase in the number of men who’ve been lured into nude conversations with “foreign” women, only to be blackmailed with video-chat recordings.
In terms of sheer numbers, the increase isn’t much — from 11 in 2011 to more than 50 last year — but it suggests a burgeoning scam that could ensnare many more men in the future, the national police force said in a bulletin that was first reported by Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper.
Police singled out Facebook and Tagged as especially popular vehicles for the extortion scheme, in which “female foreign suspects … would commence a webcam conversation with the victims and initiate cybersex by undressing themselves first before persuading the male victims to appear nude or perform sexual acts in front of the webcams.”
“Unknown to the victims, the suspects had recorded the acts,” police said. “These suspects would then threaten to circulate compromising photographs and videos of the victims to extort money from them.”
The spike in cases was first noted halfway through last year, leading CrimeWatch, a joint program of the national police and the National Crime Prevention Council, to “re-create” the scam in a (safe for work but entertainingly cheesy) video in June:
In a video titled “Blinded by love, she acted in a moment of folly,” Singapore police and the National Crime Prevention Council re-enacted a cybersex extortion case last year.
Graham Cluley, a consultant with the Internet security firm Sophos, reported the bulletin Monday on the company’s appropriately named Naked Security blog and warned of another potential hazard:
“You can imagine how a man, believing he is being seduced online by a sexy woman, might be all too eager to click on a link she suggests or run a malicious program on his computer. Before he knows it, his computer could be under the control of a hacker.”
Police offered these tips to keep your money in your wallet:
- Be wary of messages from unknown people who want to befriend you.
- Do not accede to any request that may put you in vulnerable positions, such as performing compromising acts in front of a webcam or giving personal details about yourself when interacting with other Internet users.
- If anyone attempts to extort money from you or should you become a victim of such an attempt, call the police immediately.
- Do not remit or transfer money.
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Singapore police tell webcam users: Keep your clothes on; it"s a scam